| Community policing has become the standard for police departments across the country. Much of the implementation of the community policing principles has been forced on agencies, as to receive federal aid they were required to implement these programs. This aid came in the form of Universal Hiring Program grants, Making Officer Redeployment Effective grants, and innovation grants. Although there is evidence that these programs are effective in urban areas, there is little research as to the advocacy of these programs in rural communities. Community policing is, by its concepts, a return to small-town-type policing---policing that focuses on close contact with citizens and a partnership with them. Therefore, it is unclear if these principles are as effective at reducing violent crime in rural communities as they are in urban communities, yet expenditures are made to implement community policing as grants are awarded to small communities as well as large. Studies into the efficacy of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) grants have yielded mixed results. Some have found no impact at all, others a significant effect on violent crime. Of the three types of grants, innovative grants were commonly found to have the most effect of the three. The multiple regression that assessed the relationship between COPS grants and violent crime rates in cities with a 2000 Census population of 8,000 to 90,000 in Florida, after controlling for demographic variables, was not statistically significant. This indicates that COPS grants do not predict violent crime rates. |
