community policing as an answer to raising street crime rates

This article provides a general overview of the phenomenon of community policing with regard to suppression of street crime. The author offers a definition of this phenomenon and presents its most important characteristics, conditions for its occurrence, its specific models and other relevant factors, by providing a comparative analysis and drawing necessary conclusions. In considering factors which contribute to the actualisation of community policing in Serbia, it can be concluded that the crucial influence on its appearance and development came on one side from the objective raise in crime rates and on the other side from media emphasis on the raised crime rates. The authors distinguishes between legally permissible and legally impermissible forms of such activism and provides a tentative classification model of possible, legally permissible action. The article considers both possible positive as well as negative effects and results of such reaction of the citizens. It is concluded that citizens have the right to, on their own initiative, take all measures aimed at and enabling their neighborhood's security which are permitted by current legislation, while the state is entitled to suppress all behaviour exceeding the boundaries of the permissible, irrespective of the ethical dimension of the concrete action. Besides that, the author suggests that community policing should not be treated as a regular tool and one to be widely promoted by the state in suppressing crime, but primarily as a spontaneous, selfinitiated and voluntary citizens' participation aimed at improvement of security. As long as objective possibilities for reorganisation and improvement of functioning of competent bodies allow for that, the state should rely exclusively on its own institutions, and by constant evaluation of its work and thorough and meticulous improvement of its functioning create preconditions for efficient opposition to delinquent behaviour. Finally, the author positions the citizens in regard to justification of civic anti-criminal activism. Taking into account both positive and negative effects of this phenomenon, the author points out that a flexible approach, i.e. principal acceptance of community policing as a spontaneous (as long as there is a possibility of a successful response by official bodies), or (in exceptional cases of escalation of illegal activities) moderately stimulated activity, can achieve the best results in preventing and combating the described criminal tendencies.