Community Policing in Canada: Edmonton Police Service Analysis

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of community policing in Canada, with a specific focus on the Edmonton Police Service (EPS). It begins by defining community policing and outlining its core principles, including community partnerships, organizational transformation, and problem-solving skills. The report then explores the effectiveness of community policing, citing studies that demonstrate its positive impact on crime reduction and citizen satisfaction. It examines the EPS's strategies, such as the district team policing model, mobile app, and emergency communication systems. The report also evaluates the sustainability of these strategies, including their role in addressing gang violence, drug-related crimes, and economic offenses. Furthermore, the report highlights the EPS's involvement in programs like NWEST and its specialized units, such as school resource officers, and its approach to sensitive issues like prostitution and mental health. Finally, the report offers recommendations for improving community policing, particularly in addressing gang-related violence, and suggests that the EPS should maintain 24/7 availability. Overall, the report emphasizes the importance of community policing in enhancing public safety and improving the quality of life within the community.

Running head: COMMUNITY POLICING IN CANADA
COMMUNITY POLICING IN CANADA
Name of the Student
Name of the university
Author’s note

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Introduction
Community policing refers to the allocation of polices in to the community so that they become
well acquainted with the inhabitants of the local inhabitants. A community police normally have
partnerships with the agency that enforces law and other government agencies, non government
organizations, community members, media as well as private businesses (Cordner, 2014). Main
aim of community policing is to solve the problems of the public by putting on the shoes of the
public and remaining inside the community.
This paper aims to focus on a particular group of Canadian police, The Edmonton police. The
paper will give a vivid description of the Canadian police, their method of working, their
strategies taken up for the protection of the community and the sustainability of those strategies
followed by a set of recommendations.
Community policing
Community policing may be defined as a strategy of policing that involves the working
closely and building ties with the members of the community. In community policing the police
needs to inherit a pro-active approach to address the concerns of the public safety. A community
policy also provides the scope of the offender rehabilitation by making a sustainable society and
understanding the underlying cause of the wickedness of the criminals (Gill et al., 2014). The
duties and the attributes can give opportunity to the criminals to correction by evidence based
correctional practice.

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There are several problems inside a community which cannot be recognized if one is not
in the system and those problems will not be taken care of. It is the duty of a police to
communicate with the members of the community (Cordner, 2014). Police acts a link between
the public and law. Community policing helps the members of the community against anti-social
activities by the implementation of crime prevention strategies and bringing the issues under the
legal terms.
Is community policing effective?
There are some primary element of community policing which are community
partnership, organizational transformation and problem solving skills. A community policing
will be able to provide effective services to any organization or a community by collaborative
partnership with the law enforcement agency (Cordner, 2014).
Community policing is necessary as polices can engage in the systematic examination of the
individual problems and evaluate them with appropriate responses (Bennett, 2014).
It has to be remembered that community policing cannot solve a problem alone and
generally requires the active participation of the stakeholders. The link of the police with
different government and nongovernmental organizations provide also help the common people
to get access to these services.
There should be a shift to the long term assignment of the police officers to specific
geographical area. It should be remembered that geographic deployment helps to provide better
facilities to the public. It helps to enhance more contact with the people and maintain a strong
relationship with the people.

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Reports suggest that community police strategies create a positive effect on the satisfaction of the
citizens. One of the studies showed that community oriented policing have been able to reduce
the crime up to 10 % (Sampson, 2013).
As said by Bennett, (2014), a community police community policing emphasizes on the
on stopping the crime before it occurs and respond and take necessary steps after the occurrence
of the crime. In such a case a prompt action has to be taken. A community police helps the
members of the community to have more control over their life. In order to understand all the
problems of the neighborhood it is necessary to become a part of the community (Cordner,
2014). A greater trust is required to be built between the police and the common public and this
is only possible via community policing. According to Kappeler & Gaines, (2012), community
police plays a pivotal role to promote public safety and improve the quality of life. There may be
several grievances in a community which sometimes does not reach to the government, the
community policing helps to bridge this gap and provide effective service to the people (Brogden
& Nijhar, 2013). Getting the community involved helps the police with various resources for the
prevention of crime. Unlike the traditional system of policing the policing goals are expanded
and the viewpoint regarding the community is changed (Cotton & Coleman, 2010). According to
concepts of the traditional police system, societies are not within the realm of the department of
police. Police officers are normally tied to the dispatcher and generally to not have excess time to
do anything more than that. But now, it has become necessary to create an interpersonal
relationship between the police and the community.
As proposed by Gill et al., (2014), community policing also have certain advantages. One
of the main advantages of community policing is that it reduces the fear among the members of
the community. The residents of the community can lead a secured life. The quality of life is

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improved and the crime is reduced (Brogde & Nijhar, 2013). Community police provides chance
to the community members such that they can come up with their problems. In this way
community police can provide a myriad of advantages. As opposed by Gill et al., (2014), it is
really difficult to establish a community involvement and to establish a partnership with the
community and the police. Most of the members of the community always try to remain aloof
from matters related to law and police.
Canadian police services
The Edmonton police of Canada service work with the members of the community to
mitigate the crime rates within the community. Edmonton is a city where people have excellent
culture of helping out every body. Edmonton police service (EPS) are able to combat the
organized crimes such as unrest related to gangs, drugs, hatred and biasness and other economic
crimes. The Edmonton police service is located throughout the city for serving the citizens of
Alberta. Apart from the Police headquarters, each operational division of the town has got 5
larger stations. A district team policing model is followed by the Edmonton police, which help
the officers to identify the community crimes quickly. There are 6 divisions in the city each
having four districts. Each district has got a community sergeant and community liaison
constables (CLC), who are devoted to work alongside the partners and the community b
identifying and prioritizing the crime. The sergeant along with the CLC teams work in
collaboration with the community to make a sustainable to live in (Cotton & Coleman, 2010).
Gang related violence is a major concern for the citizens of Edmonton. Drug, presents a
significant threat to the community. The hatred and the bias motivated might have a debilitating
or catastrophic impact on the victims (Sampson, 2013). The Edmonton police service also acts

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promptly in case of economic crimes and cyber frauds, mass market frauds, identify frauds and
frauds related to plastic money (O'Connor, 2017).
Strategies taken up by the Canadian Police services
The Canadian police service has taken up innovative strategies for managing the crimes
such as the Edmonton police mobile app. There is an emergency number '911' which can be used
by the communities in case of an emergency situation ("Edmonton Police Service", 2017). There
are provisions for speaker phones termed as 'blue and yellow phones', since the six Edmonton
Police service stations does not stay open 24x7, this bright yellow phones are available outside
the police stations, which directly connects to the police communication centre, which enables
one to speak with an evaluator ("Edmonton Police Service", 2017).
The blue speaker phone directly connects to the emergency number. As said earlier that
community policing involves the community, hence the Edmonton police encourages the citizens
to report all the crimes occurring (Family Protection, 2017). EPS participated in NWEST, which
is a federally sponsored program that has been designed to combat weapon trafficking and
smuggling ("Family Protection", 2017).
Sustainability of the strategies
The collaboration of the Edmonton police with the NWEST can be a sustainable step as
the team often receives phone calls from the normal citizens, asking about questions about
registering guns or how the guns can be transported or stored ("Edmonton Police Service",
2017). This strategy helps the citizens to maintain law and order in the city in relation to
weapons and stops the trafficking of weapons. The mobile app can be useful fir the users to

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report crime. It can also be helpful to the cops as the forces would remain alert of the conditions
of all the places of the city.
The availability of the patrol officers in five divisions of the cities helps in the prevention
of crime in broad daylight. The Edmonton police also offer specialized units such as flight
operations, crime scene investigation, canine, search and rescue, aboriginal relations ("Edmonton
Police Service", 2017).
The school resource officers (SROs) are helpful in making the school a safe and caring place for
learning. They help in preventing the student unrest (Stone & Travis, 2013). The EPS also
protects the citizens from child abuse, spousal violence, and elder abuse. The monitoring system
of the EPS is effective in monitoring the high risk offenders of the city (Family Protection,
2017). The EPS understands the legalities of the prostitution and criminal mental health issues.
The sensitive management of these crises indicates the sustainability of the strategies
("Edmonton Police Service", 2017).
Recommendations
Even after the strategies taken up by the Canadian police service, gang related violence is still
prevalent in the city, which indicates the gaps and loops left in the police service. In order to
prevent this, the patrolling officers should be more prompt in their action to prevent the
unavoidable crime rates. It has been mentioned earlier that all the community police stations do
not remain open 24x7. Although there are provisions for emergency phones, sometimes it might
happen that the news of a particular crime cannot be disseminated due to some technical issue
over the phone. Hence, it is important that the facilities are available the whole day.

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Conclusion
Community policing thus helps to reduce the disorder, crime, fear among the public and help to
increase the satisfaction and legitimacy among the populations. The Edmonton policing service
is able to focus on the major problems in the city and have made the strategies accordingly. The
provision of the mobile apps and the yellow and the blue phones are successful and can sustain
in the long run. In spite of all these, there are crimes still going on in the cities. Hence it can be
said that the community police should remain a bit alert from their side and should act quickly as
it is always better to take precautions before occurrence of any crime.

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References
Bennett, Z. V. T. (2014). Community—oriented policing to reduce crime, disorder and fear and
increase satisfaction and legitimacy among citizens: a systematic review.
Brogden, M., & Nijhar, P. (2013). Community policing. Routledge.
Coldren Jr, J. R., Huntoon, A., & Medaris, M. (2013). Introducing smart policing: Foundations,
principles, and practice. Police Quarterly, 16(3), 275-286.
Coldren Jr, J. R., Huntoon, A., & Medaris, M. (2013). Introducing smart policing: Foundations,
principles, and practice. Police Quarterly, 16(3), 275-286.
Cordner, G. (2014). Community policing. The Oxford handbook of police and policing, 148-171.
Cotton, D., & Coleman, T. G. (2010). Canadian police agencies and their interactions with
persons with a mental illness: A systems approach. Police Practice and Research: An
International Journal, 11(4), 301-314.
Edmonton Police Service. (2017). Edmontonpolice.ca. Retrieved 29 November 2017, from
http://www.edmontonpolice.ca/
Family Protection. (2017). Edmontonpolice.ca. Retrieved 29 November 2017, from
http://www.edmontonpolice.ca/CommunityPolicing/FamilyProtection.aspx

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Gill, C., Weisburd, D., Telep, C. W., Vitter, Z., & Bennett, T. (2014). Community-oriented
policing to reduce crime, disorder and fear and increase satisfaction and legitimacy
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