There can be little doubt that the community policing philosophy has caused professional policing to witness a dramatic change in the last 20 years. This edition of Police Chief is dedicated to exploring recent trends and new ideas in community policing.

Law enforcement has been effective in fighting crime and protecting our communities because we are more connected than ever with the communities we serve. We have set up volunteer programs within our departments, attended neighborhood watch meetings, put resource officers in schools, and participated in gang-prevention efforts. In short, we now realize that we simply cannot arrest our way out of crime problems in our communities; we must all work together to include prevention.