POP and Professional Crime Fighting Model
Problem oriented policing mainly focuses on investigating issues that lead to crime incidents and thus the police are able to develop approaches to address these issues. For instance, the approaches involved may include conflict resolution approaches and mediation which address problems before they become crimes (Whisenand and McCain, 2015). In the professional crime fighting model, the approach applied to addressing crime is reactive. That is the police can only handle a crime once it has occurred.
Reasons for Problem-Oriented Policing
One of the reasons for using problem-oriented policing is the constant lack of success that has been evidenced from the use of the professional crime-fighting strategy (Whisenand and McCain, 2015). Secondly, the application of standards and training in the professional crime strategy has been inefficient (Whisenand and McCain, 2015). There has been a need to change the police management. Rather than addressing issues such as training and procedures, POP focuses on finding out how to do things the correct way. Thirdly, the inadequate resources have made it difficult to address all issues. As such, the approach with using POP is to address priorities first. Fourthly, the traditional approach of police being reactive has not been successful hence the need to establish a more proactive approach that can reduce or prevent crime (Whisenand and McCain, 2015). Fifthly, POP applies a systematic way of engaging the community in police work. Sixthly, with POP all individuals in the police force can provide ideas on ways to address crime rather than using the top down approach strategy (Whisenand and McCain, 2015). Seventhly, POP seeks to focus on effectiveness and not efficiency. That is the old culture needs to be incorporated into the POP model. Lastly, the mission in POP requires that all stakeholders understand the mission and these stakeholders include policy makers, community and the police employees’ strategy (Whisenand and McCain, 2015)
Reference
Whisenand, P. M. & McCain, E. D. (2015). Supervising police personnel: Strengths-based leadership(8th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall
