Public discourse on community policing hasn’t been so high since the mid-1990s, when a citizen filmed the mistreatment of Rodney King on the streets of Los Angeles.

Following the relatively recent deaths of Walter Scott, Freddie Gray, Michael Brown, and Eric Garner, community relations are of particularly great concern right now for both law enforcement professionals and communities throughout the country.

To that end, police forces around the country have engaged in new tactics. However, communities are writing the rulebook now, too. Here are just a few examples involving both.

Involved Citizens

Now that every phone has the ability to record interactions and possible misconduct, “citizen policing” as well as citizen journalism is on the rise.

But community members are doing more than simply being more alert in their everyday lives. Some communities are forming civilian review boards (CRBs) — citizens unaffiliated with law enforcement who can review police actions and provide unbiased feedback and accountability.

These can promote a closer working relationship between police and community members.

Putting more police on foot

According to the Police Foundation, shortening police response time may have little effect on the chances of catching and detaining a criminal on the loose in a neighborhood.

Working jointly with Houston, Tex. and Newark, N.J. police, the foundation instead observed the advantages of officers on foot patrol and door-to-door surveys, which apparently lesson the public’s fear of crime and disorder.

Putting more police on foot has been found to improve the public’s satisfaction with police service while also reducing crime. “By staying in close contact with neighborhoods they serve, the police can identify problems at the local level, and, working with residents, respond to them,” the site says.

Police-directed community outreach

Police-directed community outreach is also trending, with police departments doing more to engage with the communities they serve and build trust.

The U.S. Department of Justice, which has its own community policing task force, says a successful tactic is to participate in local projects, attend community meetings and neighborhood watch meetings, and attend churches, synagogues, or mosques “just to say hello.”

This more involved approach proved worthy when an Indiana police department handled a problematic basketball tournament, which had become infamous for gun violence after someone was shot and killed at an event.

The tournament was cancelled, but revived after the department partnered with local NAACP leaders and leaders of a group called Young and Established. In the end, even the city prosecutor participated in the sport and the event went off “without a hitch.” But that’s just one example of how US police departments are preventing problems while also enhancing trust of the community by engaging in a non-enforcement capacity.

Normalizing online crime reporting

Another trend in increasing the effectiveness of law enforcement is popular method of reporting crimes via online reporting. This alters, and can improve, the way police respond to these crimes.

In an increasingly online world, the normalization of online crime reporting makes more and more sense. Urgent crimes or violent crimes that require an immediate response, of course, will likely always be reported via phone or text to a PSAP.

However, crimes requiring a less urgent response - petty larceny, vandalism, etc. - are perfect candidates for online reporting. That’s because this method allows citizens to report more thorough information, which police can then review and respond to calmly, knowing that they don’t have to rush over immediately.

KOVA is dedicated to helping law enforcement and other members of the public safety community do their jobs better each day. For more on how law enforcement is changing and evolving, read our post “What’s Next for Public Safety Technology?”