Democratic policing, community policing and the fallacy of conflation in international police development missions

摘要

In international police development missions it has become common practice to regard 'community policing' as a synonym for 'democratic policing'. It is argued here that democratic policing is the parent concept and that community policing is simply one among a range of possible manifestations of some, but by no means all, of the democratic policing ideals (in so far as they can be identified). To conflate the two, or even to recognise the difference yet accord equal status, is a category error. The result yields two corrosive products: incomplete application of democratic policing in every case, and cultural inappropriateness in some.