The phrase “police/community relations is the job of every officer and not just the person conferred with that title,” means the strong relations based on mutual trust between the communities and the police agencies as they serve the critical aspect of the society through maintaining order in the community.  Therefore, the relations between the community and the officers do not reflect the interests of one person who is entitled to the title instead as a collaborative relationship with the community. The community plays a crucial role when it comes to policing policies as they provide a mechanism of establishing the laws. Notably, the community values and norms provide the basis of establishing improved relations with those intended to be protected (Mejia, 2018).   Also, the police officers greatly rely on the existing cooperation with the community who provide essential information regarding crimes across their neighborhoods as well as working with police establish solutions towards disorders problems and crimes.  The community-police relations reflects the incorporate principles which form the basis of the legitimacy and procedural justice as the relations takes into account the interests of all people. Therefore, when an individual officer with the title is mandated with maintaining public safety, there might exist challenges as the needs of the community may not be integrated into the policing policies.

In the wake of recent events that involve the police using excessive force, the legitimacy of police tends to be questioned by many communities. In many countries, the excessive use of force by those entitled with titles has undermined effective policing and maintaining public safety. Also, the lack of better relations between the police and community has resulted in protests and demonstrations which further threaten the role of the police. According to statistics, they indicate that individual entitled with police title may use their power excessively leading to violation of human rights (Walker & Archbold, 2018). Thus,  the community and police relations can be used as a tool of regulating power by those with titles thus promoting legitimacy in the justice system.  This phrase means that the police cannot work independently as their goal is to serve the community by promoting safer communities and marinating law and order.

The human relations work in determining the structures that need to be put into place to guarantee the protection of all people irrespective of their ethnic background, cultural orientation, and religious affiliation. With improved human relations, the work of the police will tend to be easy due to minimal cases of violation of other personal rights.  The police public relations relates to the statement by showing that the police are members of the society who are entitled with responsibilities to protect their fellow friends, relatives, and the general public. Therefore, the police need to understand the community systems from better service to public rights (Walker & Archbold, 2018).  Also, the officers entitled with the title comes from the community, and thus when they deviate from the norms and the values of the society, it shows the disintegration of the moral fabric of the community which further undermines effective policing.  The statement implies that the job of promoting law and order is the responsibility of all people in the community rather than the police officers.  In a nutshell, the police officers cannot work effectively without the involvement of the public as the jobs require the cooperation of all regardless of ethnic, culture and religious affiliation.

References

Mejia, C. (2018). Road to Change: A Community’s Story on Strengthening Law Enforcement-Community Relations.

Walker, S. E., & Archbold, C. A. (2018). The new world of police accountability. Sage Publications.