"Skogan and Harnett offer here yet another exemplary, extraordinary study that incorporates both fascinating
particulars and generalizable findings. It is well-designed and subtly orchestrated and should become required
reading in the social sciences. Not only is it engaging and clearly written, it contains hopeful notes about the
future of urban policing...Community Policing, Chicago Style masterfully sets out an experimental design, identifies
the elements of the program, asserts a logical model by which program and results are connected, presents abundant
data clearly, and is cautious about generalization and modest about findings."
--Americal Journal of Sociology
Oxford University Press Web Site, March, 2002
Summary
Police departments across the country are busily "reinventing" themselves, adopting a new style known
as "community policing". This approach to policing involves organizational decentralization, new channels
of communication with the public, a commitment to responding to what the community thinks their priorities ought
to be, and the adoption of a broad problem-solving approach to neighborhood issues. Police departments that succeed
in adopting this new stance have an entirely different relationship to the public that they serve. Chicago made
the transition, embarking on what is now the nation's largest and most impressive community policing program. This
book, the first to examine such a project, looks in depth at all aspects of the program--why it was adopted, how
it was adopted, and how well it has worked.
Table of Contents
1. Policing at Century's End
2. Police and Politics in Chicago
3. Crafting a Program
4. Bringing Officers on Board
5. Citizen Involvement
6. The Program in Action
7. The Influence of CAPS on Neighborhood Life
8. Reinventing Policing, Chicago Style