Restorative Policing

Restorative policing is a service-oriented style of policing in which police officers are viewed as peacemakers who focus on relationship building and engagement with the community, rather than solely collaboration with and cooperation from the community. Restorative policing recognizes that officer safety will be enhanced through approaching dangerous situations with restorative values such as respect. Arguably, one of the long-term goals of law enforcement is to motivate law violators to become more self-regulating of future criminal behavior and respectful community citizens. However, this goal is often neglected in traditional models of policing that are based on a reactive, quasi-militaristic approach grounded in a use-of-force culture. In the 21st century, policing ideology appears to favor a more proactive and service-oriented approach than the traditional models of ...