Conflicting Views and Cultural Differences of Community Policing in Europe

• In Event: Community Policing in Practice in Comparative Contexts

Abstract

Community Policing, as a concept and a set of practices, displays a significant level of variation among the national and regional contexts it has been applied in as well as a gap between the two aspects. Originating for the Anglo-Saxon policing experience and the Common law tradition, its implementation proves challenging in the continental European Civil law context, struggling to balance the consent vs. control paradigm within police professional culture. This dichotomy gets more pronounced with the attempt to integrate various ICT systems into CP strategies, where notions of intelligence led policing and predictive policing are threatening to undermine the strategies to enhance police-community relations. Centered around qualitative research in six countries (Cyprus, Greece, the Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Spain, and the United Kingdom), I want to analyze the different perceptions of CP, experiences of police-community relations and use of ICT among police practitioners and citizens, against the background of the varying historical and socio-cultural aspects. The research has been conducted within the European project INSPEC2T (Inspiring Citizens Participation for Enhanced Community Policing Actions), funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 - Research and Innovation Framework Programme, H2020-FCT-2014, under Grant Agreement no. 653749, www.inspec2t.eu.

Author

• Norbert Leonhardmair, Vienna Centre for Societal Security (VICESSE)