The status of community policing in American cities: Facilitators and impediments revisited Available to Purchase

“Community policing” has become the watchword for organizational change among law enforcement agencies across the USA over the past several years. In particular, concerted efforts to internalize this new policing philosophy have intensified with the passage of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act in 1994, and since the strong endorsement of the community policing concept by the Clinton administration. Our analysis of data collected from a representative sample of 281 American police agencies in 1993 and again in 1996 permit a compelling examination of the community policing movement in this country over time. Our findings suggest that there has been a significant increase in community policing activities in recent years. Further, the level of interest in community policing training has intensified and impediments to the adoption of the community policing philosophy have become more easily identifiable. In addition, the results reported here also suggest that this change process has been quite dynamic, but the ultimate and widespread institutionalization of community policing still remains somewhat uncertain.