Science ON THE BEAT Community policing is a tactic used in many developed nations, including the UK. But can its principles transfer successfully to less economically developed countries? Liam Kay investigates D o you know your local police officer? Do you often see police patrolling your neighbourhood? If the answer is yes, then you are possibly the beneficiary of community policing strategies. Community policing focuses on improving communication and collaboration between police and citizens, often using tactics such as increased frequency of beat patrols, decentralised decision-making, acting on public intelligence around crime, and community engagement programmes. The policy is used in many parts of the world including the UK, the US and across the European Union. But how does community policing work in countries with higher crime rates and steeper levels of economic deprivation? Graeme Blair, assistant professor of political science at the University of California, Los Angeles, led a project examining how community policing strategies could work in less affluent nations, running six coordinated field experiments in Brazil, Colombia, Liberia, Pakistan, the Philippines and Uganda. We have very little evidence about whether community policing works in the wide variety of places using it now, Blair explains. We were motivated by this evidence gap, and the fact that community policing is one of the main policy solutions to the current situation, in many countries, where citizens are demanding both a reduction in crime and accountability for police abuses. We wanted to know if it could meet the moment. We identified six police agencies in the global south that shared our interest in learning about whether and how community policing could reduce crime and rebuild trust in the police. The team collaborated with the six police 42 Impact ISSUE 37 2022_pp42-43_science.indd 42 28/03/2022 15:27