An exploratory study regarding the effects of community policing on index crime clearance rates in local agencies with investigators

The police-public relationship is vital to the police investigation process because people are the primary source of crime information for the police. Yet, past research has shown that the traditional reactive, case-oriented police investigation process, wherein the police primarily respond to reported crime, is ineffective in collecting and using information to solve crime. Community policing, now one of the dominant forces in policing, also focuses on the police-public relationship and working with people, but mainly to prevent crime. The purpose of this study was to determine whether community policing has any effects on solving crime as well.;Clearance rates (the extent to which agencies solve crime) for the Index crimes of murder, robbery and burglary were operationalized as dependent variables. Six demographic Agency Variables, 16 Investigation Variables related to the investigation process, and two Community Policing Variables were created as predictor variables. Logistic regression was used to examine variable interrelationships.;It was found that some Agency and Investigation Variables have mixed (positive and negative) significant main effects on some clearance rates, and that community policing practices in agencies have significant positive main effects on murder clearance rates. Agency Variables show no significant interaction effects with community policing on clearance rates, but when community policing is practiced in conjunction with some Investigation Variables, it has mixed significant interaction effects on murder and robbery clearance rates. No significant community policing interactions were found with any variables regarding burglary clearance rates.;Community policing factors that influence investigative outcomes are affected less by environmental factors than by internal management factors, over which agencies have greater control. The different effects of community policing are associated with the characteristics of the relative seriousness, visibility and extent of police investigative response regarding the different types of crimes. Community policing effects are associated with the collection of information, and technology effects are associated with the use of information, to solve crime. However, while the study findings indicate that clearance rates can be improved through the effective integration of community policing, investigations and technology, no evidence was found of any substantive internal agency management initiatives to do so.;A conceptual framework that describes crime in terms of phases, time, space and sources of information was used to put the study findings in context, and to develop a practical vision and common frame of reference for affecting change in the investigation process to better address the crime control needs of society. The results are discussed with regard to preventing and detecting crimes, as well as solving them, especially as they pertain to terrorism and national security.