Prior to the creation of organized law enforcement agencies in North America, community members were tasked with the responsibility of informally dealing with crime-related issues. Lands were settled by European migrants in the 1800s, communities grew, and organized police services were established and regulated throughout the new countries. Modern policing continued to evolve as a response to the changing North American society, with an emphasis on many of the core principles associated with early policing and the interdependent relationship between the police and the community.

For police services that seek to enhance community safety, there is a fundamental recognition that community involvement and support is necessary. Criminologists suggest that community context plays a significant role in determining the demands that are placed upon police officers, the role the police assume in a community, and the specific patterns of relationships that exist between the community and the police.¹ Community context involves a number of dimensions, including size; socioeconomic, ethnic, cultural, and spiritual makeup; the types and levels of crime and disorder; attitudes toward the police; and expectations of the police. These variables make it imperative that police officers have a thorough understanding and appreciation of the community they are policing.

The large financial budgets associated with police services has resulted in a corporate approach to policing, including the creation of mission and vision statements, the identification of organizational values and objectives, and short- and long-term strategic planning. Evaluation frameworks that assess the effectiveness and efficiency of service delivery with a focus upon “client service” provide the means to keep the police service on track.² Community consultation, , accountability, and transparency are important dimensions of public safety and the services that are provided to the community. The police are responsible for not only the services they provide to the community but also their conduct within the community. As a result, most police agencies have clarified—or are in the process of clarifying—their codes of ethics, values, and beliefs. This has often included the establishment of clear behavioral expectations that are used to hold officers accountable. These changes continue to shape how police services are delivered.

Policing and Legitimacy

The basic principles of modern policing were established in the United Kingdom with a heavy emphasis on community policing and the integral relationship between the public and the police. In the 1800s, police in London, England, were required to abide by key principles that are the DNA of contemporary concepts pertaining to procedural justice. This includes the preventing crime and disorder, securing the willing cooperation of the public, demonstrating impartial service to law, using physical force only when necessary, policing with impartiality, and following the precept that the test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder.

In alignment with Sir Robert Peel’s Principles, policing has largely evolved with the approval, respect, cooperation, and collaboration of the public. Often referred to as “policing by consent,” the police powers have the common consent of the general public rather than being imposed by the various branches of government. A belief in fairness has led to the legitimacy of the police—the general belief by the public that police should be permitted to exercise their authority to manage conflicts, maintain social order, and solve problems in the community.³

However, in order to maintain police legitimacy, police personnel must strive to be courteous, fair, and respectful when performing their duties. Public satisfaction with policing helps build and maintain community trust and confidence. The legitimacy of the actions of police officers and the agencies that employ them are upheld by valuing the rights of all individuals and the observation of procedural laws.⁴

Although Peel’s well-known principles were created long ago, they remain just as relevant today and are reflected in the philosophy and practice of customer service and community policing. Peel’s original principles contained greater detail than the list typically quoted by North American police agencies of today. In his original draft, emphasis was placed upon the importance of positive relationships, good service, and guardianship of the community. Peel emphasized that police should foster a positive relationship with the public by the “offering of individual service and friendship to all members of the public without regard to their wealth or social standing, by ready exercise of courtesy and friendly good humor.”⁵

Unfortunately, while law enforcement agencies in North America have made great strides over the years in a number of areas, the concept of customer service has been lacking from the mission statement and core values of some police agencies. In some instances, police agencies adopted a “warrior” approach in dealing with members of the public. Recent highly publicized negative incidents involving police officers and members of racial and ethnic minorities further illustrate the disharmony that may exist between the police and the public. Police have also confronted individuals rendered vulnerable due to a mental health crisis, at times using force to resolve the conflict. Outcomes and public scrutiny of these highly charged incidents have increased pressure on the police from community groups and politicians, precipitating a number of commissions of inquiry into police actions. Distrust of the police among community residents often serves to undermine police legitimacy and community policing initiatives. Lessons learned from these experiences have acted as the catalyst for change in how police leaders think and how they influence organizational change.⁶

Providing good customer service to the public is closely linked with concepts of procedural justice and legitimacy to act. Subject matter experts suggest that the public is a consumer that considers several key components when rating its satisfaction with a policing service.⁷ Namely, the service experience is evaluated in terms of receiving fair treatment, which can be defined as attentiveness, reliability, responsiveness, competency, listening and the use of manners.⁸ The service experience also includes perceptions that police are trustworthy, honest, caring, and behaving in a professional manner. Demonstrated police behaviors that can support these positive perceptions include treating community members with respect, , acting without bias, and allowing the person to have a voice.⁹

The process of the interaction is also important. Police have an obligation to be ethical, fair, and consistent in their dealings with the public during the performance of their duties. In many cases, it is the perceived fairness of the process, rather than the outcome, that will determine whether an individual or group of individuals will comply and cooperate with the law enforcement community.¹⁰

Client-Centered Policing: Building Trust and Relationships

Satisfaction levels with police performance are often reflected in public opinion surveys and in the number and severity of complaints lodged against officers. Many police services across North America are striving to do better by utilizing lessons learned from the business sector and from psychology. Incorporating research from psychology and philosophies regarding best business practices can help drive customer service initiatives that will likely enhance the delivery of law enforcement services. Some liken the emphasis on customer services to the creation of a bank account whereby positive police actions build a balance that can help to counteract those occasions when a policing experience is perceived as negative. Exceptional customer service requires officers to be compassionate, caring, and service-oriented in their approach to their day-to-day duties.¹¹

Several law enforcement agencies are promoting activities within a positive environment to increase public trust and confidence and foster stronger community-police relationships. Some of the common strategies to increase police legitimacy include face-to-face visits between community members and police officers. These personalized, low-key meetings provide an opportunity for police officers to introduce themselves and interact with members of the public in a positive, non-enforcement manner. For example, simple activities such as Coffee with a Cop are popular, low cost opportunities for the police to meet and greet members of the public, responding to questions and concerns over a cup of coffee. Informal face-to-face sessions serve to build positive relationships while providing valuable information to frontline officers as about issues important to members of the public.

Formal community-police meetings provide another forum in which to identify problems and concerns of community residents while serving to increase police legitimacy. These meetings can open lines of communication and may result in the development of strategies to address community concerns while eliminating rumors and stereotypes.¹² Establishing a community consultative committee may also be of significant benefit to community advocates and the police service. For example, in 2014, the Transit Police in Vancouver developed a Chief’s Community Council (CCC) with a mandate to address community concerns. The council acts in an advisory capacity by promoting dialogue and collaboration between community advocates and Transit police. The objective of the CCC is to bring community members together to gather information and perspectives on transit related safety and security issues. The forum also serves to foster trust and establish relationships between the Transit Police and the various diverse communities within the greater Vancouver area.¹³ Listening and demonstrating fair, impartial, and professional behavior has the potential to increase police legitimacy and produce positive outcomes, including reduced fear of the police and increased obedience of the law.

Study: Praise Versus Complaint

A Canadian study conducted in 2016-2017 explored the techniques and methods used by a select group of individual police officers who provide positive customer service. These officers stand out among their peers within their organizations as they are often praised by the public for their mannerisms and style of policing. Although these officers make multiple contacts with the public (often in highly charged circumstances), they do so, for the most part, without public complaint or criticism.

Interviews were conducted with a small group of officers identified within three municipal policing services located in the Vancouver, British Columbia, regional area. The individuals interviewed were active police officers with the Delta Police Department, New Westminster Police Department, and the West Vancouver Police Department. Four officers were selected from each of the three agencies and asked to share their insight, knowledge, and experience on client-centered policing. Although the study was limited, the findings revealed commonalities amongst the participants that suggest areas for exploration on a larger scale.

Frontline officers had multiple contacts with the public on regular basis, including issuing tickets or reports for traffic violations, making arrests, and performing other enforcement duties. The officers surveyed included female and male officers with an average age of 33 years and an average service time of 6.5 years. Most of the officers had completed an undergraduate degree. The findings of the study revealed that 70 percent of these officers self identified as having the following characteristics:

• • • • A keen interest in enforcing laws and genuinely caring for and assisting individuals in the community
      • Previous experience working in a service-type industry, such as counselling, hospitality, teaching, or nursing, prior to employment as a police officer
      • A strong belief in volunteering and giving back to the community
      • Involvement in off-duty activities that were service oriented; for example, coaching in team sports or volunteering

The officers’ responses also demonstrated similarities in what they perceived to be important when providing service (Table 1) and the communication skills required for good customer and community service (Table 2).

Table 1: Philosophy of Police Officers Interviewed: Important Elements in Customer Contacts

Table 2: Philosophy of the Police Officers Interviewed: Key Communication Skills

Further perspectives of these officers regarding the provision of good customer service, is reflected in their specific responses, including the following quotations:

• • • “Resolve conflict, be fair [and] respectful. Recognize your duties and obligations; take the time before you act and start speaking. Think things through when possible, look at both sides of the issue and remember the key issues…[be] honest and truthful.”

• • • “Be part of the community and engage when someone calls. Use common sense, be relaxed, provide perspectives, problem solve, validate, reality check, articulate. You must know what you are talking about.”

• • •  ”Ask them: ‘What have you learned from that?’ Return calls. Get back to people. Take care of the issue and let people vent. They want to talk and tell their story. Be honest and up front.”

• • • “Goal: Do a great job all the time. Be more invested in customer service.”

The Delta Police Department – G.L.A.D.

The Delta Police Department (DPD), one of the agencies with participants in the noted study, has an established reputation for a ”no call too small” community-centered service delivery model. In 2018, a plan was proposed with goals that included enhanced customer service and community engagement. Following the principles of procedural justice and bias-free policing, the DPD created a system to standardize how its police officers interact with the community.¹⁴

The creation of an online survey instrument for community members provided a means for measuring client service effectiveness and identifying areas that may require adjustment. Police officers making contact with the public during the course of their duties were directed to provide a business card with a police file number to the “customers.”. The back of business card provided a website address for the survey. Customers were encouraged to take three to four minutes to complete the web-based, four-question survey (see sidebar).

The DPD’s GLAD system serves to standardize how police officers interact with the community and is an example of an innovative means to ensure customer service delivery within a community policing framework. Forged from the doctrine of procedural justice, the GLAD system facilitates the legitimization of police activities within the city of Delta.

Core values centered upon customer service concepts influence recruitment and the provision of in-service training to encourage higher quality service; fewer complaints; and ultimately, a more positive perception of the law enforcement agency and officers. Customers—those using the service of police officers—can have greater confidence and trust in officers that provide high levels of customer service.

However, recruiting and training officers in regard to providing high levels of customer service is not enough. Police agencies must also maintain consistency throughout the organization and ensure that individuals receiving services from police in socially and economically disadvantaged areas receive the same high level of service provided to those in affluent areas.

A key step in ensuring the uniformity of service delivery is by the development of “systems” that provide implementation and evaluation components. Using the GLAD example, officers are provided with a template for the expectations of their interactions with customers. A process of accountability allows for an evidence-based validation of the customer service system being used. In Delta, standardized service delivery was implemented by providing clear expectations and direction to frontline officers. The creation of a web-based feedback mechanism is one measure to help determine how effective the Delta Police are at meeting the needs and expectations of the community.

Business organizations such as Starbucks, Home Depot, and Amazon frequently provide customer service surveys in an effort to gain insight into employee performance. An assessment of a police customer service system provides a similar means of checking back with consumers and learning of their service experience. Regular auditing of the system also ensures that frontline personnel are following the customer service model. In sum, a system approach to customer service delivery allows police agencies to build trust and confidence with their communities in a consistent, meaningful, and constructive manner.

Developing a Client-Centered Police Service

Police leaders have long recognized the power of positive working relationships with a wide variety of community stakeholder groups. To build and sustain these working relationships, police services need to promote a culture that focuses upon police history and the fundamental approaches to policing. Contemporary police officers should possess a sense of social history that includes racial, ethnic, and economic factors within the community. An understanding and appreciation of the past allows the police to learn from history and to stay focused upon the main objectives of modern policing and the needs of their community. Police officers must also be equipped with skills and knowledge that facilitate customer service concepts into their day-to-day policing duties.

Applicants to policing must display good judgment and an ability to communicate exceptionally. They must have the personality and disposition to carry out the broad mandate given to today’s police officers, which includes the abilities to work independently, take initiative, and work well with others. An important part of this process is providing training that will equip the individual to carry out their tasks within a customer service–oriented framework.

An underlying theme throughout the training process is competency-based training that focuses on the acquisition of specific, measurable skills and knowledge that can then be transferred to the operational level. Competency-based performance evaluations can then be used to assess observable knowledge, skills, and behaviors that are directed toward the achievement of organizational objectives such as professionalism and customer service.

For example, some of the core competencies used by the City of Winnipeg to assess police applicants include

• • • Respect for Diversity— Applicant respects all people, treats them effectively and equitably, regardless of race, nationality, culture, disability, age or sex, and is a proponent of equal opportunity and fairness for all.
    • Citizen and Customer Focus—Applicant is committed to building relationships with customers, garnering their trust and respect in order to meet their needs; to improve products and services based on customer information; and to act with customers in mind.
    • Integrity & Trust— Applicant is an honest and trusted individual, who presents the truth in a manner that is helpful and appropriate; someone who maintains confidentiality and, when admitting mistakes, represents him/herself in a truthful way regardless of the outcome.
    • Ethics & Values—Applicant believes in doing the right thing even when no one is looking, is committed to core values and beliefs, and acts in a manner that supports those beliefs.
    • Results Oriented—Applicant meets goals, has the ability to strive to be a top performer, is goal oriented, and encourages others to get successful results.¹⁵

In alignment with core competencies, the philosophy and practice of customer service should permeate all facets of training and operational conduct. There must also be a standardized system within the police service directing personnel how to engage the public. Officers with the necessary skills, motivation, and organizational support can use a number of tools and techniques to promote customer service concepts.

In addition to recruiting, training, and performance initiatives, several police agencies have created specialized units dedicated to responding to issues related to diversity and cultural conflict. In western Canada, the Calgary, Alberta, Police Service (CPS) has established a Diversity Resources Unit that maintains a number of portfolios that respond to cultural (e.g., Aboriginal) and interest-based diversity (e.g., sexuality and gender). These specialized police units also serve as an excellent outreach into diaspora communities and are a seasoned resource when tensions may be high due to a controversial policing incident. For example, Calgary’s Diversity Resources Unit addressed community concerns when members of the public were killed by police and during allegations of racial profiling by police. Client-centered service initiatives have been shown to be highly effective in defusing racial or interest-based tensions.¹⁶

In sum, contemporary policing continues to evolve, enabling an environment in which personnel have internal and external customers that expect and demand quality, efficiency, and trustworthy service. In order for law enforcement to be effective, it must be seen to be fair and impartial to all individuals, under all circumstances. This can only be achieved with a client-centered approach that serves to promote the concepts associated with procedural justice.

Notes:

¹ Brian Whitelaw and Richard Parent, Community-Based Strategic Policing in Canada, 5th Ed. (Toronto, ON: Nelson, 2019).

² Whitelaw and Parent, Community-Based Strategic Policing in Canada, 36–41.

³ Whitelaw and Parent, Community-Based Strategic Policing in Canada, 8.

⁴ Richard Parent and Catherine Parent, Ethics and Canadian Law Enforcement (Toronto, ON: Canadian Scholars/Women’s Press, 2018).

⁵ United Kingdom Home Office, “Definition of Policing by Consent,” December 10, 2012.

⁶ Parent and Parent, Ethics and Canadian Law Enforcement, 10–11.

⁷ Jane Goodman-Delahunty, “Four Ingredients: New Recipes for Procedural Justice in Australian Policing,” Policing 4, no. 3 (November 2010): 403–410; Stephen D. Mastrofski, Ideas in American Policing (Washington, DC: Police Foundation, 1999).

⁸ Mastrofski, Ideas in American Policing, 1–4.

⁹ Goodman-Delahunty, “Four Ingredients,” 4–6.

¹⁰ Tom R. Tyler and Jonathan Jackson, “Future Challenges in the Study of Legitimacy and Criminal Justice,” in Legitimacy and Criminal Justice: An International Exploration, eds. Justice Tankebe and Alison Liebling (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2013): 83–104.

¹¹ Parent and Parent, Ethics and Canadian Law Enforcement, 318–319.

¹² Whitelaw and Parent, Community-Based Strategic Policing in Canada, 103.

¹³ Parent and Parent, Ethics and Canadian Law Enforcement, 330.

¹⁴ Delta Police Department, “Research, Metrics and the Future of Policing,” Board Connection 11 (Summer/Fall 2018).

¹⁵ Parent and Parent, Ethics and Canadian Law Enforcement, 134–135.

¹⁶ Whitelaw and Parent, Community-Based Strategic Policing in Canada, 322.

Please cite as:

 Neil Dubord, Rick Parent, and Catherine Parent, “Community-Police Engagement in North America,” Police Chief Online, July 21, 2020.