Police Officers' Perception of Community Policing in Countering Violent Extremism: An Exploratory Study

Terrorism has been at the top of the global security agenda since 9/11. Starting in 2010, the Arab rising has escalated tension in North Africa and Middle East. Several countries suddenly turned into conflict areas, and this situation sparked support for an armed struggle not only among many people living in chaotic regions, but also among people living in various Western countries. Community policing has been implemented in various settings as a response to this rapidly spreading problem. Turkey has been fighting against all sorts of violent extremism and terrorism for over 40 years through different strategies. Community policing projects in countering violent extremism has been implemented since 2009. Few studies have examined how it is implemented in the field. The study reported here attempted to explore the perceptions of community policing officer because to what extent community policing is implemented as it is intended strongly depends on the perception of these officers. For the study, a total of 71 officers from seven Turkish cities participated in face-to-face interviews. Findings show that majority of community policing officers held a positive view of community policing and that was encouraging for the future success of the program. A few officers among those who had negative perceptions thought that the philosophy of community policing is valuable, but that the activities they were currently involved in did not really constitute a community policing activity. The remaining officers (3) were totally against the idea of community policing in countering violent extremism.