Styles of Policing

Legalistic style of policing is more bureaucratic and professional. This style tends to impose the rule of law on all sections of the society in an unbiased manner. Closer scrutiny and evaluation methodology led to increase in the legalistic style where law enforcement and intervention in certain circumstances is practiced. Police men do a lot of research, planning and are actively involved in community relations department to manage relations and act as a responsible law enforcement agency.
This style followed the initial watchman style of policing where instead of having been arrested for having liquor in a restricted area, the offender might have been given street justice by the police. Watchman style of policing also left a lot to be desired as it was more prone to political intervention. Hence the legalistic style of policing focuses on upholding the rule book while taking an unbiased view of the situation. Service style of policing is more lenient than legalistic style with the latter being more rule based.
It intervenes in a proactive manner where there is a need but this is an informal act at most times. The idea is to prevent petty criminals to become hard core offenders and have a compassionate view of the community. Drug rehabilitation and treatment might be an option that police might consider under this style rather than go for legal provisions for punishing minor offenders. The citizens are treated as customers with great care taken to ensure that people are treated with courtesy and that the police goes to great length to ensure the comfort of citizens.

This style of policing leads to a very image conscious police force. It also leads to a less risk based approach in dealing with problems unlike other styles which might use an operational style. Team style of policing is based on the concept of neighborhood policing which got popularized in 1970’s. The idea is based on working closely with communities in focused smaller teams that leads to higher degree of trust and cooperation between all involved. The police unlike in other scenarios have a visible, familiar and accessible perception.
Strategic policing relates to having a more proactive style of policing. This style of policing relies a bit on the information channels that it has build and acts in a silent and behind the scene manners when needed. Problem solving style deals with issues that can be solved within the legal and a community engagement framework. The objective is to deal with problems that might not necessarily come in the legal gambit and also to look for alternatives other than arresting offenders.
Police needs to recognize that legal provision to arrest is just one of the tools to deal with a problem. There could be other legal provisions or an opportunity to have a dialogue with stakeholders concerned and come to a logical conclusion. One another aspect of problem solving style is to reduce constant offending by a select few people of the community. The police communicate with the community, gathers and analyzes information, creates solution in consultation with the community and helps in implementation of these plans.