Certainly I appreciate that question, and I do agree with you on the fact that community policing seems to be a positive aspect of policing that can help bridge positive relationships with the community. It was specifically brought up by the youth I interviewed that the problem is that they're well aware of the particular officers who have been hired to do that job. Often there's a call for additional officers or additional training, but they all don't follow a community-based approach. I think the problem is that the idea that more officers need to be on the street gives the impression that it's simply more enforcement.
I think essentially where we need to begin is right from the beginning, where training begins. There needs to be a community-based approach in the way that any police officer interacts with the community. It isn't simply racialized communities they need to focus on in building a community relationship; it needs to be how they interact with all individual they are meant to serve.