Community Policing is a style of policing in which the officers try to build relationship with the persons they serve, acting as “guardians” of the area and role models. Law Enforcement policing is the standard role for police, in which they patrol, respond to calls, and make arrests.
1. Was the character played by Sean Penn (“Danny McGavin”) in Colors a model of proactive/community policing or reactive/law enforcement policing styles? Give a few specific examples, and explain how the members of the community viewed him. What mistakes did McGavin make in his style of policing?
2. Give at least two examples of the “community policing” style of Robert Duval (“Bob Hodges”) in Colors. How did the gang members respond to Hodge’s treatment of them? Did Hodges make any mistakes?
3. Both law enforcement and community policing techniques could be used to suppress gang activity as we saw in Colors. Explain how both McGavin’s and Hodge’s policing techniques could be blended to make effective policing of rough communities like in the movie.