ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the issues relating to the role of the police in collaborating with communities to develop safe neighborhoods through community partnerships. It describes the police–community relationship. The chapter identifies the Kennedy's position on police and minority relations. It explores the difference between effective and ineffective communities. The chapter discusses the Broken Windows theory and its relationship to quality-of-life policing. It also identifies what police must do to implement community partnerships. The chapter analyzes how police create community safety through community partnerships. It focuses on the characteristics of successful community partnerships. Community is a social construct that refers to a fixed place where people live in a relationship of mutual interdependence, interact, have a sense of belonging and a psychological identification with a common locality. The term "community" refers to a specific geographical area and the individuals, organizations, and agencies who live and function within that area. Creating and maintaining safe communities is a basic police function.
