With the introduction of Community Based Policing as a philosophy for police operations and applications, the term “Expanded Role of Law Enforcement” is often used. This refers to police activities that are not traditionally reactive in nature (detect crime, ID perp & put in jail).
Officer Bookem is on patrol in his beat area and is frustrated with doing the same thing every day…patrol around, respond to radio calls, write reports, cite traffic violators, arrest bad guys & repeat. He’d like to do something new that falls in line with Community-Based Policing principles. (Remember…Problem-Solving, Partnerships & Prevention?) His boss tells him he can use patrol time to pursue these activities.
Identify and Discuss 3 things Officer Bookem can do with his expanded role in community policing. Be specific in describing his actions. State what “P” the activity falls under and what the goal is. His actions can be one from each “P” or all three of one type. Hint: Most community policing activities require communication with other persons/institutions and identifying resources that can be shared. Community policing goals are often long-range and may not see immediate results.