Model Curriculum

In the 1970s and into the 1980s, police leaders, scholars, and other stakeholders started to think more strategically and analytically about the policing process. A series of research and evaluation efforts within the United States suggested that random patrol, criminal investigations, and rapid response were not particularly effective policing methods or strategies. It seemed clear that a different approach was necessary, that community policing had promise, and that systematic problem solving needed to occur. Herman Goldstein first published an article in 1979 that advocated for a problem-oriented policing approach. What followed was a series of early experiments in a variety of U.S. cities that suggested that a problem-oriented policing approach could yield benefits in crime prevention, community safety, and overall police effectiveness.

Since that time, many other police scholars have advanced our understanding regarding the importance of problem solving within the law enforcement process, and much has changed in policing. Specifically, community policing has been widely [Page 249]integrated and adopted within the United States and across several other countries. While some scholars might differentiate the nuances of community policing from problem-oriented policing, most agree that systematic problem solving and problem analysis remain central components of both approaches.

From a theoretical perspective, it seems clear that community policing and problem-oriented policing evolved from a myriad of criminological, environmental, and sociological theories. What was missing, perhaps, was a common understanding about what exactly is meant by community policing, problem-oriented policing, and problem solving. Even if such a common understanding was reached, one challenge moving forward was to develop a curriculum that could be taught within a variety of learning contexts and that would help to fully entrench community policing and problem-solving concepts and skills into academia, training academies, and law enforcement communities. This need was a particular concern in the United States, given its localized law enforcement process and the thousands of policing agencies that may or may not be capable of or interested in adopting community policing or problem solving.

This entry examines community policing curriculum development, provides a model curriculum, and outlines the various uses for same.