Constitutional Policing vs. Community Policing

Simply put, constitutional policing is policing that follows the U.S. Constitution and upholds people’s civil rights. Constitutional policing ensures that law enforcement officers treat everyone fairly and impartially.

Constitutional policing operates within the boundaries set by the Constitution, court decisions, laws, and regulations. But correct constitutional policing is more than just policies that hold up in court.

A report on constitutional policing by the Police Executive Research Forum points out the difference.

It says police departments should continually examine practices to make sure they “advance the broad constitutional goal of protecting everyone’s civil liberties and providing equal protection under the law.”

A foundation of constitutional policing should inform everything police do. However, there are certain areas where law enforcement leaders should be especially careful to promote constitutional policing.

These include police use-of-force, stop and frisks, issues of racial bias, and interactions with people with mental illness.

In every interaction, police must walk the line of enforcing the law to keep people and communities safe, while also respecting the rights of every individual they interact with.

“The vision of policing in the 21st century should be that of officers as guardians of human and constitutional rights,” says the President’s Task Force.

Once your agency has established a base of constitutional policing, you can then apply and adapt those concepts to your community.

As law enforcement leaders have discussed police accountability and criminal justice reform, many have advocated a return to community policing.

The President’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing upholds community policing as one of its pillars of effective law enforcement.

The report defines community policing as “work[ing] with community residents to identify problems and collaborate on implementing solutions that produce meaningful results for the community.”

Advocates of community policing recognize that policing methods and practices won’t look the same in every city. Police need to be aware of the makeup of the communities they are policing.

Communities include diverse groups – racial minorities, the LGBTQ community, the mentally disabled, immigrants, and more. Community policing prompts police to know and consider the needs of every group.

Community-oriented policing takes a proactive approach to public safety. Departments may ask community members to voice their concerns and speak to policy.

They may even invite representatives from diverse groups in their city to conduct seminars during officer training.

Perhaps most importantly, a community-policing philosophy emphasizes police relationships within the community.

Rather than just sending officers into an area to respond to calls, many departments are requiring officers to patrol on foot. They encourage officers to get out of their squad cars and regularly interact with civilians.

Community policing tactics have been credited with improving police-community relations in areas such as Dallas and Eastern Michigan. When officers and civilians get to know one another outside of law enforcement interactions, they are more likely to trust each other.

Officers respect citizens and see themselves as community guardians. Civilians are willing to work with police and see them as allies.