land P.D. also makes a good point because the chief and the upper management can begin training to see if the training was what the department wanted for the type of community policing that was involved.An officer attitude is one important step that cannot be forgotten when deciding on creating a community program or not in a town. “Officers must both support and work with the community for community policing programs to succeed. Police officers themselves must have a positive and optimistic attitude about community members in order for these programs to make any kind of true impact”(Brooks, 115). This author’s statement is vital to community policing because half-hearted attempts to make the program work in a town seems almost like a waste of time and money. As said previously in the article, cynicism will continue to exist in policing no matter what is done, but it must be kept to a minimal, or the program could turn into a catastrophe.We must also realize that many studies have focused on citizen’s perceptions of community policing, and not the officer’s. “The current research on community policing has several drawbacks. Perhaps the most important is the limited number of research studies focusing on police officers. Past research has largely studied citizen perceptions of community policing rather than assessed attitudes of police officers on this subject”(Yates, 194).The author makes an excellent point in describing the minimal number of studiescompleted on police attitudes, compared to the rather large number of studies completed on citizens, and their views of the police department. It is important to gather information on both sides. If the community residents are for community policing, plus the politicians, and the chief think it’s a great idea, then what’s stopping the program from being successful? The officers! If the officers, especially patrol officers disap...
