"Police departments across the country are busy "reinventing" themselves, adopting a new "community policing" approach. This progressive method of law enforcement involves organizational decentralization, new channels of communication with the public, a sensitivity to what the community thinks a department's priorities ought to be, and the application of a broad problem-solving approach to neighborhood issues." "This book is the first to examine such an ambitious project. It focuses on a city which, having recently made this transition, now has the nation's largest and most impressive community policing program. Wesley G. Skogan and Susan M. Hartnett look closely at all aspects of this program, offering an unprecedented account of how and why it was adopted, and how well it has worked. Relating in detail the successes and limitations of community policing in Chicago, the authors describe and evaluate the many experimental districts where the program was first employed. They indicate how it has yielded substantial benefits for most residents of the city. Much attention is also given to Chicago's planning and implementation of the program, and how it overcame many of the obstacles that have delayed the appearance of community policing in other cities."--BOOK JACKET.

Police departments across the country are busily "reinventing" themselves, adopting a new style known as "community policing". This approach to policing involves organizational decentralization, new channels of communication with the public, a commitment to responding to what the community thinks their priorities ought to be, and the adoption of a broad problem-solving approach to neighborhood issues. Police departments that succeed in adopting this new stance have an entirely different relationship to the public that they serve. Chicago made the transition, embarking on what is now the nation's largest and most impressive community policing program. This book, the first to examine such a project, looks in depth at all aspects of the program--why it was adopted, how it was adopted, and how well it has worked.

Highly popular with both the public and political leaders, community policing is the most important development in law enforcement in the last twenty-five years. But does community policing really work? Can police departments fundamentally change their organization? Can neighborhood problems be solved? In the early 1990s, Chicago, the nation's third largest city, instituted the nation's largest community policing initiative. Wesley G. Skogan here provides the first comprehensive evaluation of that citywide program, examining its impact on crime, neighborhood residents, and the police. Based on the results of a thirteen-year study, including interviews, citywide surveys, and sophisticated statistical analyses, Police and Community in Chicago reveals a city divided among African-Americans, Whites, and Latinos. By looking at the varying effects community policing had on each of these groups, Skogan provides a valuable analysis of what works and why. As the use of community policing increases and issues related to race and immigration become more pressing, Police and Community in Chicago will serve the needs of an increasing amount of students, scholars, and professionals interested in the most effective and harmonious means of keeping communities safe.

Implementing key features of Chicago's program -- CAPS' impact on neighborhood life -- Remaining challenges -- Suggested reading -- Notes.

Politicians, citizens, and police agencies have long embraced community policing, hoping to reduce crime and disorder by strengthening the ties between urban residents and the officers entrusted with their protection. That strategy seems to make sense, but in Citizens, Cops, and Power, Steve Herbert reveals the reasons why it rarely, if ever, works. Drawing on data he collected in diverse Seattle neighborhoods from interviews with residents, observation of police officers, and attendance at community-police meetings, Herbert identifies the many obstacles that make effective collaboration between city dwellers and the police so unlikely to succeed. At the same time, he shows that residents’ pragmatic ideas about the role of community differ dramatically from those held by social theorists. Surprising and provocative, Citizens, Cops, and Power provides a critical perspective not only on the future of community policing, but on the nature of state-society relations as well.