The Impact of Traditional and Community-Based Policing on Reduction in Crime Level

Security and reduction in fear of crime are two distinct phenomena which significantly contribute to quality of social life. Provision of security is among the greatest responsibilities of governments; however, security will not be established unless a sense of security, or in other words, a reduced level of fear of crime is achieved. Therefore, the police, as a collection of trained, armed, equipped, and powerful forces, and as a part of criminal justice system, enforce the law and adopt variety of approaches to control fear of crime. The present study attempts to describe the problem of fear of crime and to examine the role of community-based and traditional policing in controlling (i.e. reducing) fear of crime. Our findings indicate that (1) controlling the fear of crime through simply traditional policing is not enough for reducing the fear of crime while community-based policing helps tackling crimes and reducing the fear of crime through such approaches as programs for surveillance over neighborhoods, establishment of collective decision making groups, increasing observability, etc. For a example, a research conducted in 12 U.S. cities indicated that although such an approach does not bring positive changes to citizens’ attitude toward the police, however, their views on the impacts of police strategies indirectly influence the fear of crime. Furthermore, traditional policing, which emphasizes response to crime, enforcement, and final and quick punishment, has only influenced public opinions on reduction in fear of crime without actual decline in fear of crime.