Community Policing Interventions (Multiple Countries)

This is a program through which community policing interventions have been developed in several countries, including Brazil, Colombia, the Philippines, Liberia, Pakistan, and Uganda.
These police interventions seek to increase engagement between citizens and the police through foot patrols, community meetings, and the adoption of problem-solving strategies that address concerns raised by citizens.
When cooperation leads to effective police responses, this approach reinforces citizen trust and facilitates further cooperation, creating a virtuous circle.

Impact evaluations

An impact evaluation found that the intervention did not improve citizen trust and cooperation with the police, nor did it reduce crime in any of the six countries that received the treatment. Despite the strong commitment of leaders in each context where it was applied, the police implemented the interventions unevenly and incompletely. In addition, the evidence is limited regarding police action in response to citizen complaints about crime in the treatment area [1].
The study concluded that community policing does not, at least immediately and by itself, lead to better police-community relations, nor does it reduce crime.
The study had a coordinated trial design in Brazil, Colombia, Liberia, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Uganda. The interventions reached some 9 million people in 516 treated areas. In the end, 18,382 citizens and 874 police officers were interviewed.

Bibliographic reference

[1] Blair, G., Weinstein, J. M., Christia, F., Arias, E., Badran, E., Blair, R. A., ... & Wilke, A. M. (2021). Community policing does not build citizen trust in police or reduce crime in the Global South. Science, 374(6571). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abd3446

Information source

IDB Inventory