Posted: July 7th, 2022

Community Policing Immigrants and Minorities

What is your proposed solution to the problem of immigrants and minorities affecting the police community policing efforts. ?
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Community Policing Immigrants and Minorities
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Community Policing Immigrants and Minorities
Community policing entails law enforcement officers being able to work with the location they are stationed within regardless of the type of people that occupy the community. Minorities and immigrants are challenging groups to enforce successful policing due to some challenges. These challenges involve language barriers, reluctance to report a crime, cultural differences, fear of the police, and immigration laws (Lysakowski et al., 2016). Due to these challenges, the relationships between police officers and immigrants/minorities becomes complex. The issue of inferiority complex is widely present across such groups, which explains their mistrust in police work. Discrimination, racism, and bias often plague such communities, making them distance themselves from law enforcement. Such a decision immensely cripples community policing as it undermines the main aim of the practice – working with the district. Clear strategies involving the entire police department working on favorable immigration policies alongside understanding the various aspects of the community may help create mutual grounds for beneficial alliances.
Immigration policies should be addressed first to encourage immigrants to participate in community policing (Police Executive Research Forum, 2019). The entire police department should work on guidelines relating to immigrant interactions. Each employee should be aware of proper communication when interacting with the group. The department should also designate an executive who will handle all matters relating to immigration enforcement. Such strategies should not only be communicated within the police department but also to the public. The transparency will make the target group realize their needs are essential to the progress of the community. Conflicts will, therefore, reduce due to the widely communicated message on immigration enforcement. This will make it easy for immigrants to report the crime due to the reduced police (Higgins, 2018). Information will then begin to flow, and the police can serve the community better.
Another strategy to improve community policing within minority communities is to understand the cultural barriers and form a committee of leaders within the community. One of the reasons as to why minorities and immigrants pose challenges to community policing efforts is the inability of police departments to acknowledge their cultural differences (Police Executive Research Forum, 2019). The First Amendment gives the right to cultural democracy hence supporting diversity across the nation. Police officers can form a coalition of trusted community leaders to aid them to relate better with the target group. These leaders may act as a medium for the police department to interact with the minority group harmoniously. Community policing is an ever-changing practice that should be open to new ideas (Higgins, 2018). Since misunderstandings are common, the availability of a committee working with the department forms mutual grounds where both parties can take the time to clear any confusion.
In conclusion, there are various strategies that can help police departments mitigate the issues of minorities and immigrants affecting community policing. It cannot be easy to accomplish the aims of community policing without actively involving the community. Police departments that are positioned in areas with immigrants need to devise ways to address immigration enforcement policies and communicate them internally and externally. Furthermore, these departments need to know how to work with community leaders to understand their culture better. All in all, these strategies are set to improve interactions between the police and the community for the safety of all involved parties.

References
Higgins, M. (2018). Community Policing. Evidence Based Community. Retrieved from https://www.ebpsociety.org/blog/education/340-community-policing
Lysakowski, M., Persall, A., & Pope, J. (2016). Policing in new immigrant communities. Community Oriented Policing Services. Retrieved from https://cops.usdoj.gov/RIC/Publications/cops-p162-pub.pdf
Police Executive Research Forum. (2019). Community Policing in Immigrant Neighborhoods: Stories of Success. Retrieved from https://www.policeforum.org/assets/CommunityPolicingImmigrantNeighborhoods.pdf

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