Making Community Engagement a Core Business of Policing

Despite a relatively recent surge of academic contributions to literature on police-community engagement, the practice of community engagement in policing is not well documented, nor is it sufficiently analysed (Rogers and Robinson 2004). However, a strong international push for what is known as "the professionalisation of policing" recently triggered academic interest in the theoretical underpinnings, values, and practices of community engagement, its possible impact on police operational practice, public satisfaction with the police, and, particularly, how community engagement "fits" with community policing in theory and practice. By examining and analysing the relationship between police organisations, universities, and community members (through the lens of the relationship between vulnerable people and police-community liaison officers), we offer to start filling this gap. In this chapter we focus on the articulation and exchange of knowledge between university academics, police, and "marginalised" members of society, also known, in legislation, as "vulnerable people". We start with a brief outlook of community engagement in the context of policing before developing on community engagement practices (or lack thereof) we have observed in the field and in police training. We follow with a critique of the community engagement mechanics and an appraisal of outcomes and processes. Our argument stems from the point of view of police officers holding the portfolio of "community-liaison", and their work to embed community engagement in frontline police practice and police recruit education, especially in relation to the policing of vulnerable groups.