Which of the following best describes community policing?

Community policing is best described as an approach that involves community collaboration and partnership. This strategy emphasizes building positive relationships between law enforcement agencies and the community they serve. The underlying principle of community policing is that community members are active participants in the policing process, working together with police to identify and solve problems related to crime and safety.

By fostering collaborations, community policing helps to establish trust and mutual respect, which can lead to a reduction in crime and improved quality of life. This approach often includes initiatives such as neighborhood watch programs, community meetings, and outreach efforts to educate residents on safety and crime prevention.

The other options do not capture the essence of community policing. For instance, focusing solely on arrest statistics misses the collaborative and preventative nature of community engagement emphasized in community policing. Random patrols, while part of some policing strategies, do not incorporate the community involvement that is central to community policing. Lastly, policies determined solely by federal law enforcement would lack the local input and partnership that characterize community policing principles.