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Who Is Talking With Whom? Community Policing and Inter-Agency Collaboration In A Rustbelt Secondary City: A Case Study

Melvin-Campbell, Kelly Marie
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1544129825644603

Abstract Details

2019, Doctor of Philosophy, Case Western Reserve University, Sociology.
Forces like deindustrialization and globalization have left many second-tier rustbelt cities struggling with decline in population and neighborhood conditions, which can paint a negative image of these cities. One way that communities are attempting to improve their image is through crime reduction via multi-agency collaborations, like community policing. Previous literature has identified successful and unsuccessful elements of inter-agency collaborations but much of this work has examined the relationship between community police, and social and mental health services. Neighborhood development corporations focus on economic development, blight, and community building, thus making an ideal partner for community police. Yet, collaboration between community policing and neighborhood development corporations specifically has been understudied. This case study utilizes content analysis of data from written documentation (grant proposals and neighborhood reports), semi-structured interviews with neighborhood residents, the police department, and the neighborhood development corporation, as well as participant observation in neighborhood meetings. It explores the working relationship between the Youngstown Police Department and the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corporation in Youngstown, Ohio, to investigate what elements of that relationship were positive and negative; and identify how and in what way collaboration occurs. It examines the potential structural, social, or economic factors that affect community policing from multiple stakeholders. Finally, the project examines spacial dynamics within two Youngstown neighborhoods served by community police officers. Results showed three primary findings: (1) The collaboration between the community police and neighborhood development in Youngstown is multidimensional and synergistic; (2) There is a paradigm clash between the traditional and community policing models that can hinder efforts at crime reduction and neighborhood stabilization; and (3) Neighborhoods are areas of contested space between the residents and police leadership, and between law-abiding and non-law-abiding residents. These findings have significant implications for secondary cities pursuing a crime-reduction/economic development model of urban renewal. First, inter-agency collaborations with community police initiatives should formalize partnership with neighborhood development corporations. Second, intra- and inter-agency barriers to the community policing model can dilute the model. Second, neighborhood program development could strengthen the police-community relationship. The findings from this project inform prior research on community policing, inter-agency collaboration and urban spacial dynamics.
Jessica Kelley, PhD (Committee Chair)
Tim Black, PHD (Committee Member)
Gary Deimling, PhD (Committee Member)
King Tammy, PhD (Committee Member)
258 p.
Criminology; Social Research; Sociology
Community policing; inter-agency collaboration; neighborhood development; neighborhood development corporation; case study

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Melvin-Campbell, K. M. (2019). Who Is Talking With Whom? Community Policing and Inter-Agency Collaboration In A Rustbelt Secondary City: A Case Study [Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1544129825644603

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Melvin-Campbell, Kelly. Who Is Talking With Whom? Community Policing and Inter-Agency Collaboration In A Rustbelt Secondary City: A Case Study. 2019. Case Western Reserve University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1544129825644603.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Melvin-Campbell, Kelly. "Who Is Talking With Whom? Community Policing and Inter-Agency Collaboration In A Rustbelt Secondary City: A Case Study." Doctoral dissertation, Case Western Reserve University, 2019. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=case1544129825644603

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

case1544129825644603
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This open access ETD is published by Case Western Reserve University School of Graduate Studies and OhioLINK.