Community policing programmes as police human rights strategies in Costa Rica

In the literature, the process of involving the community in local level policing is referred to as ‘community policing’, ‘problem-oriented policing’, ‘proximity policing’, or ‘community-oriented policing’. Although there is no uniformly accepted definition, most acknowledge that community policing emphasizes the involvement of citizens and law enforcement officials in local level policing (Manning 1997; Seagrave 1996; Community Policing Consortium 1994; Skolnick and Bayley 1986). The vignette above reflects two conflicting ways in which community policing programmes are perceived and put into practice.