Kathryn Womble

First Name: 
Kathryn
Last Name: 
Womble
Mentor: 
Dr. Regina Branton
Abstract: 
With tension between the police and citizens increasing, addressing public trust in police is of paramount importance. To address the conflict between the police and community, many cities have initiated police outreach programs. Community oriented policing (COP) is a method of combating this rising citizen-police tension by using, often community assisted, problem solving to tackle crime. Addressing one of the root causes of criminal activity, COP is primarily concerned with improving civilian perceptions of the police. In other words, COPs aim to foster peace and trust between law enforcement and the citizens they are sworn to protect. Although COP programs are gaining popularity worldwide, particularly in the United States, relatively little research has been conducted to see if COP programs accomplish their goals of crime prevention and, possibly more importantly, police-civilian reconciliation. This research focuses on the influence of COP programs on citizen satisfaction with law enforcement. The primary research questions are: 1. What, if any, effect do COPs have on civilian satisfaction/trust of police? 2. What, if any, effect does race/ethnicity have on civilian satisfaction/trust of police in communities which utilize COPs? Through this project, we hope to determine under what conditions, and for what groups, COPs are most effective. Additionally, we hope that our findings will help lay the foundations for future research regarding COPs efficacy, and what action can be done to improve police-citizen relations.
Poster: 
Policing Practices and Public Trust