Course

Police and Community

Faculty
Humanities & Social Sciences
Department
Criminology
Course code
CRIM 4440
Credits
3.00
Semester length
15
Max class size
35
Method(s) of instruction
Lecture
Seminar
Online
Hybrid
Typically offered
To be determined

Overview

Course description
This course examines the philosophy and practice of community policing and contrasts community-based approaches with traditional models of policing. The course critically explores the history of community policing and police reform in Canada specifically and in North America generally. It reviews the structure and delivery of modern policing services as a response to contemporary issues such as fear of crime and the changing nature of crime in diverse communities.
Course content
  1. Policing in Canada
    • Evolution of Canadian policing
    • Overview of contemporary Canadian policing
  2. Community Policing
    • Definition
    • Contrast to other policing styles
    • Understanding modern community policing
  3. The Police and Public Perceptions and Expectations
    • Community policing and fear
  4. Canadian Police Culture, Organizational Change and Community Policing
  5. Crime Response and Crime Prevention within a Community Policing framework
    • The community police officer
  6. Community Policing Strategies
    • Problem-oriented policing
    • Intelligence-led policing
    • COMPSTAT – Computer Statistics
    • Team policing
    • Restorative justice approaches
  7. The Community and Community Policing
    • The increasing diversity of Canadian communities
    • Increasing reliance on volunteers
  8. Assessing the Effectiveness of Community Policing
Learning activities

The course will employ a range of instructional techniques:

  • lecture
  • class discussion
  • audio-visual materials
  • guest lectures
  • examinations and term projects, including term papers.
Means of assessment

Evaluation will be carried out in accordance with the Douglas College Evaluation Policy.  The instructor will provide a written course outline with specific evaluation criteria at the beginning of the semester.  Evaluation will be based on some of the following:

  1. Short Answer Tests
  2. Exams
  3. Term Papers

An example of one possible evaluation scheme would be:

Midterm 1  20%
Midterm 2  20%
Term Paper  30%
Final Exam  30%
 Total 100%
Learning outcomes

At the conclusion of the course, the successful student will be able to:

  1. Describe the evolution of Canadian policing.
  2. Explain the structure and governance of modern Canadian policing.
  3. Define community policing and contrast it to traditional forms of policing.
  4. Illustrate public perceptions and expectations with respect to policing services.
  5. Explain the fear of crime phenomenon and its impact on policing.
  6. Describe the function and purpose of community police officers.
  7. Depict and assess problem-oriented policing, intelligence-led policing, team policing approaches.
  8. Analyze the utility of restorative justice approaches with a community policing philosophy.
  9. Describe the existing Canadian police culture.
  10. Evaluate the evolving nature of crime and policing in diverse communities.
Textbook materials

Texts will be updated periodically. Typical example:

  • Whitelaw, B. & Parent, R. (2019) Community Based Strategic Policing in Canada, 5th ed. Nelson, Toronto.

Weekly readings to ensure awareness and discussion of relevant current events.

 

 

 

Requisites

Prerequisites

CRIM 1120

Corequisites

No corequisite courses.

Equivalencies

No equivalent courses.

Course Guidelines

Course Guidelines for previous years are viewable by selecting the version desired. If you took this course and do not see a listing for the starting semester / year of the course, consider the previous version as the applicable version.

(Current)

Course Transfers

These are for current course guidelines only. For a full list of archived courses please see https://www.bctransferguide.ca

Institution Transfer details for CRIM 4440
Kwantlen Polytechnic University (KPU) KPU CRIM 4XXX (3)
Langara College (LANG) LANG CRIM 2XXX (3)
Simon Fraser University (SFU) SFU CRIM 458 (3)
Thompson Rivers University (TRU) TRU CRIM 4XXX (3)
Trinity Western University (TWU) TWU HUMA 4XX (3)
University of British Columbia - Okanagan (UBCO) UBCO ARTS_O 2nd (3)
University of British Columbia - Vancouver (UBCV) UBCV SOCI_V 2nd (3)
University of Northern BC (UNBC) UNBC SOSC 4XX (3)
University of the Fraser Valley (UFV) UFV CRIM 4XX (3)
University of Victoria (UVIC) UVIC SOSC 4XX (1.5)

Course Offerings

Winter 2025

CRN Days Instructor Status
Maximum seats
35
Currently enrolled
35
Remaining seats:
0
On waitlist
0
Building
Coquitlam - Bldg. C
Room
C1007
Times:
Start Time
18:30
-
End Time
21:20