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Police used to emphasize this and we still have a federal office dedicated to it. We called it Community Oriented Policing. While I still support this style of policing, a lot of officers called it Hug-a-Thug policing and did not support it. Crime was still rising so in the 90's it was replaced with Problem Oriented policing. This style called for using all the forces of the government against a problem, such as calling code enforcement and fire marshals and other agencies against a problem. This worked in some cases, but caused still more friction between the police and the citizens. Instead of using common sense and going back to community oriented policing, many agencies doubled down and moved more into the current mode of policing (more military aid and style).

To be fair to police, criminals and gangs were also moving towards more military style crime (coordinated attacks and planning and equipment, cartels hiring ex-soldiers, etc.). The feds were also giving military equipment and money to the locals to help combat terrorism.

If I were a police chief, I would strongly support a community oriented police program, including forcing all officers to spend part of their shift walking in both housing and business districts. I also want a citizen advisory board that meets with the chief to keep him informed on what they see as problems that need to be addressed. The down side of this is that I would need more money for both number of officers (have to keep enough mobile to handle calls while some are walking) and quality of officers (good people cost money in any field). And money and benefits are a problem in the law enforcement field in many places.