Compare And Contrast COMPSTAT And Community Policing

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When comparing and contrasting COMPSTAT and Community Policing one will find that both are quite similar in purpose, yet somewhat different in how information is obtained and who is accountable for results. COMPSTAT is a statistics driven model of policing. The data that is collected by law enforcement agencies is utilized to allocate resources to specific problems in an effort to address them quickly. This is not much different than intelligence led policing, which is becoming the latest trend within law enforcement. Agencies that utilize the COMPSTAT model hold their commanders accountable for statistical data showing no change or an uptick in crime in a specifically identified hotspot. Some argue that the use of COMPSTAT encourages …show more content…

Community Policing utilizes information obtained from the community to allocate their resources and address problems that the community sees as important. Often times what the community finds important, law enforcement agencies would not prioritize as high. This is a result of much of a community not knowing the level of criminal activity that is actually occurring around them. Community policing utilizes some statistical data to direct activities, but primarily the SARA method is utilized to identify issues within the community. SARA stands for Scanning, Analysis, Response and Assessment.
One advantage to utilizing COMPSTAT is that it mandates that commanders address identified problems quickly and creatively. It also is data and statistics driven which in some instances can be beneficial because an agency can show progress to the community, but these same statistics may not tell the whole story either. The focus on statistics can also be a negative because it can cause commanders to report statistics in such a way that is beneficial to them to prevent themselves from being questioned at the COMPSTAT