It is a fact that many people in the community do not trust the police. However it is no secret that the as well do not trust the people of the community. With trust issues such as these there is no wonder why there are so many problems between the police and community. Another reason for the block of communication is that police officers are not being properly trained. All of these factors above cause some level of a communication barrier.
Violence in the community will never come to an end without the help of the members of the community. The members of the community are like the see all and know all. Someone in the neighborhood always knows something that will be useful to the police. However, since the people do not trust the police they chose not to cooperate with the police and refuse to turn over information or report crime. On the other hand the police not trusting the people of the community is just as bad. Police may not take certain calls they get for the community seriously. Also police distrust in the community may cause the police to have biases against that community. This brings me to my next point of poor training. Because of the lack of proper training police ore lacking people skills. Police officers need to have interpersonal skills, this is important so that the police can communicate not only effectively with the public but also in a professional manner. The police have to understand that they are not above the law and that they are people just like everyone else.
I believe that the solution to these problems would be to get more police officers in the communities. These police officers need to get out of their police cars and get on foot. Officers need to get to know the people of the community as well as introduce themselves to establish a level of trust. Once the people see this happening, and they feel that they know their local police officers on a more personal level they will then begin to open up more and be more cooperative....