The Core Obligation of a Portland Police Community Officer
1. Introduction:
A Portland Police Community Officer’s primary duty is to keep the peace. This involves working with citizens to resolve problems and prevent crime. The officer must also enforce the law, maintain order, and ensure a secure society. These critical tasks are accomplished through the initiation of solutions to problems and the support of an officer during routine assignments and arrests. The Portland Police Bureau is committed to providing the highest level of service to the community. It is the duty of every officer to provide support to the legal structure of our government and to uphold the constitutional rights of all citizens.
2. The core obligation of a Portland Police community officer:
The officers’ core obligation is to nature peace, enforce the law, maintain order, and ensure a secure society in partnership with the citizens they serve (“Community policing”, n.d). Critical tasks that a police community officer does include initiate solutions to problems and support an officer during routine assignments and arrests. They also work with different types of people in various settings such as schools, businesses, faith organizations, and other civic organizations (“Community policing”, n.d). In other words, they are out in the field trying to create relationships within the communities they are assigned too in order to create a sense of trust or mutual respect between cops and citizens (“10 common misconceptions about community policing”, 2015). It has been said that “Community policing is one of the most important innovations in law enforcement in decades” (“What is community policing?”, n.d., p. 1). It allows police officers to focus on proactive problem solving rather than just reacting to calls for service which makes them more efficient and effective in their jobs (“What is community policing?”, n.d.). In order for this style of policing to work there needs to be open communication and collaboration between police officers and citizens so that they can work together to identify issues and come up with creative solutions (“10 common misconceptions about community policing”, 2015). Community policing also helps build positive relationships between police officers and minority groups who may have a history of negative interactions with law enforcement (“10 common misconceptions about community policing”, 2015). These positive relationships are important because they can help decrease crime rates by making minority groups more likely to report crime when it does occur and also makes them more likely to cooperate with police investigations (“10 common misconceptions about community policing”, 2015). Although some people may view community policing as “touchy-feely” or “soft” it is actually very demanding physically, emotionally, and mentally since officers have to be constantly alert and engaged with their surroundings (Rheault & Siegel, 2013). Community policing requires officers to think outside the box and come up with new innovative solutions to problems that arise which can be challenging at times (Rheault & Siegel, 2013). It also puts them in close contact with members of the public which can be dangerous if not approached with caution (Rheault & Siegel, 2013). Despite these challenges, many police departments across the country have embraced community policing as a way to improve their relationship with the communities they serve (Rheault & Siegel, 2013).
3. Conclusion:
In conclusion, the core obligation of a Portland Police Community Officer is to