Professionalism, Community Policing, and Citizen Participation in U.S. Municipal Police Departments

Citizen surveys as a tool for democratic governance and for citizen participation have had a rich tradition in local government for the past 30 years. For democratic governance, one of the debate arises over the tension between professionalism and democracy. One stream of scholars assumes that professionalism in public administration makes public bureaucracy more democratic because of its neutral competency. Others, however, assert that the growth of professionalism in public administration presents a serious threat to democratic governance because of its own self-interest. For citizen participation, “community policing” brings a new paradigm in police service. However, this debate over professionalism and the effectiveness of “community policing” has been paid little attention and are not fully tested. In this research, the authors test three main hypotheses pertaining to professionalism and community policing, using two surveys LEMAS and UCR in 2000. The study shows that both professionalism and community policing have positive impact on the propensity of conducting citizen satisfaction surveys in police departments.