Dynamics of Public Support for Community Policing (CP): Findings from High-crime and Low-crime Residential Neighborhoods

Understanding the underlying forces of citizens’ support for public service is of utmost importance to public administration. Among the many areas of public services, the police are inimitable. This study therefore, explores public views on Community Policing (CP) in a Nigerian case study. The study area was stratified into two: area with high crime rate (AHCR) and area with low crime rate (ALCR). The data used were from a survey of 217 respondents in the AHCR and 242 respondents in the ALCR. Results show that both the AHCR and ALCR reported support for CP, although there was higher support among the AHCR respondents. Findings show that none of the demographic characteristics were significant predictors of support for CP in AHCR; whereas, age and educational level had positive associations in ALCR. Fear of crime was positively linked with support for CP among AHCR residents. Neighborhood attachment was positively linked to support for CP in both areas. Police effectiveness was positively associated with support for CP in ALCR but not in AHCR. Combined analyses reveal that age, educational level, neighborhood attachment, police effectiveness, and support for aggressive policing all had statistically significant associations with support for CP. Results show that none of the important predictors were the same in terms of significance and/or in the same direction in the AHCR and ALCR regression models. The determinant variables explained marginally different amounts of variance of the dependent variable (CP) for the AHCR (37%) and ALCR (30%). The study concludes that factors predicting support for CP are contextual and could vary between neighborhoods. Hence, understanding the particular factors in respective locality is necessary for improved support for CP.