Policing and Crime Prevention

This chapter looks at the role that police play in crime prevention. It explains the distinction between ‘reactiveReactive policing’ policing and ‘proactiveProactive policing’ policing and explores why, despite the public’s view that police action is fundamental to crime controlCrime control, police are not a key reason for crime ratesCrime rates going up or down. Crime is, for the most part, outside of the control of the police. The chapter explains how police effectiveness is only as good as the general community’s willingness to accept it, and reviews ‘legitimacyLegitimacy theory’ theory in this explanation. It describes the conflicting pressures on senior police managers to solve crime and disorder problems over which they have little control. It highlights the dilemma for uniformed police on patrolPolice patrolling who are trying to satisfy the needs of communities that have multiple and often competing voices. Finally, it looks at the sometimes fractured relationships between police and First Nations Australians in the crime-reductive task.