| In this paper we report on a three year national evaluation of community policing in Israel conducted by the Institute of Criminology of the Hebrew University. The study was based on field observations, interviews, and survey research focused in four specific cities, as well as field observations and survey research carried out at the national "headquarters" level of the Israeli National Police. We examine here the general impacts of community policing on the activities, philosophy and organization of policing in Israel. Specifically, we find that the implementation of community policing has brought new strategic approaches to Israeli policing, created a more community oriented philosophy of police work among police officers, and changed the nature of the relationship between the police and local authorities in Israel. At the same time, our study shows that implementation of community policing was only partial. In our discussion we examine the factors that impeded the development of community policing, focusing directly on: the lack of full organizational support for the changes proposed; resistance of the traditional military structures of Israeli policing to the organizational changes required by community policing; and the difficulties of implementing multiple program goals simultaneously. |
Updated 05/20/2006