COMMUNITY ORIENTED POLICING SYSTEM (COPS) RESEARCH

1. Relevance of (COPS) Community Oriented Policing System today.

(Philippine National Police Setting).

Rationale : Community Policing for Police Officers/Participation

"The basic mission for which the police exist is to prevent crime and disorder".
All of us would say something about arresting offenders and supporting victims of
crime. On this principle; "the test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and
disorder, not the visible evidence of police action in dealing with it". This is highly
relevant to policing. We are seeing substantial reductions in crime across the
Philippines. A substantial reduction in the cities and an ample amount of reduction in
the local barangays shows that some very effective policing is taking place in the
Philippines at the moment. The challenge for me, as a Police Officer, is to make sure
local people feel safe - the numbers are only part of the story.
With crime falling, I think spending some of our time speaking to local
community groups, trying to change the way in which they see their local police. We
need to find innovative ways to communicate with local people to increase this sense
of confidence in what we are doing. The key thing for us is securing the support of
local community. By only this they will tend to provide us with information about
where and when crime is happening, can we take action to deal with local problems.
Police-Community Relations must be well established on policing system that
is being adopted by police organizations worldwide. This policing system can be
equated with diplomacy such that even the subjects of policing actions view the
system as the most acceptable form of police-community interaction to ferret out
crimes, ensure public safety, or maintain peace and order.
Police officers have only a set of narrowly defined objectives- and a body of
law that is continually subjected to revision and interpretation - to guide them. Given
the urgency of the plight in which police usually find themselves, it is a wonder that
the police are able to perform their duties with as little controversy as they do. There
is no question that many times police are forced to act intuitively. Yet, this is not the
characterization of police that is rendered to the public. Police work is rarely
presented to the public in a positive light.

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COMMUNITY ORIENTED POLICING SYSTEM (COPS) RESEARCH

COPS for maintenance and promotion of peace in the community.

Community Policing System is a revolutionized concept in modem policing
designed to improve the efficient delivery of basic police services. It adheres to the
basic concept that the police and community are co-producers of the police services
hence, peace and order is a shared and joint responsibility of both.
COPS or the Community Oriented Policing System is still very relevant today
because it plays an important role in the maintenance and promotion of peace and
security. This provides clear understanding of the interdependency of roles of both
the police and the community.
Basically, it contains set of principles that encourage as well as promote
better police-community partnership. Also, it is designed to provide the PNP
members the basic ground rules to enhance effectiveness. The community-police
partnership is being encouraged to enhance the PNP's community based crime
prevention programs. Members of the PNP must internalize and apply this basic
COPS concept in order to sincerely pursue its noble purpose.
Community policing helps to build trust between the community and law
enforcement, to develop knowledge of the community and provide vital intelligence
relating to potential criminal actions. Local law enforcement can facilitate information
gathering among the community groups with whom police have established a
relationship.
It will generally be citizens who observe the unusual groups of men living in
the community, or unusual behavior at their area of responsibility or at their own
community, and could be expected to report such observations to the local police.
In addition Community Oriented Policing System is very important and
relevant at this time because this is based on the notion that citizens should be
empowered to prevent crime or the problems that lead to crime. Establishing and
maintaining mutual trust is therefore the central goal of community policing, as it
allows wide law enforcement access to valuable community information leading
potentially to the prevention and resolution of crimes.
The partnerships formed in support of community crime prevention efforts can
also provide a framework for engaging citizens to help police identify possible
terrorist threats and infrastructure vulnerabilities. Effective community policing
involves not only developing partnerships between law enforcement and citizens,

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COMMUNITY ORIENTED POLICING SYSTEM (COPS) RESEARCH

however, but also intergovernmental and interagency collaborations with the nation
and other agencies. These partnerships are essential for the collection and
exchange of intelligence, the identification of threats and vulnerabilities, and the
sharing of resources in the event of an attack.
Below are the importance and relevancy of COPS ( Community Oriented
Policing System) in the PNP organization and other government agencies.
1. PNP police officers are given broader freedom to resolve concerns within
their community. Individual officers are presumably the most familiar with
their communities and are therefore in the best position to forge close ties
with the community and create effective solutions. Community policing
emphasizes employee participation; individual officers are given the
authority to solve problems and make operational decisions suitable to
their assignments. Officers are seen as generalists, not specialists.
2. Community policing is a philosophy that promotes organizational
strategies that support the systematic use of partnerships and problem-
solving techniques, to proactively address the immediate conditions that
give rise to public safety issues such as crime, social disorder, and fear of
crime.
3. Collaborative partnerships between the law enforcement agency and the
individuals and organizations they serve to develop solutions to problems
and increase trust in police. Collaborative partnerships between the law
enforcement agency and the individuals and organizations they serve to
develop solutions to problems and increase trust in police.

References
Refer to Community Policing Lecture Dr. de Leon
Refer to Community Policing Lecture Dir . Magsalos
Desktop PC/Library Research/Interview/FGD
WIKI Internet
Google Chrome/Internet

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