"Proactive Control" The Case of Community Policing in Ottawa

The research investigates how the Ottawa Police Service operationalizes the community policing paradigm and further considers some of the benefits and challenges of the collaborative approach. The thesis argues that despite the ideals of community policing, there exist significant limitations that challenge police officers’ present capacities to engage in partnerships with the community. Such limitations include an ambiguous conceptual understanding of community policing, community mobilization efforts that are based on the assumption that communities can be readied and are willing to participate in crime prevention programs established by the police, a traditional police structure that cannot effectively sustain community policing reforms, and an underlying police subculture that does not subscribe to proactive policing. The findings suggest that although the police department is committed to community policing, they must consider addressing the identified limitations in order to effectively operationalize community policing and maintain accountability.