Daniel Villa

Date of Award

Spring 2021

Degree Type

Capstone

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (EdD)

Department

College of Education, Doctoral Program

First Advisor

Barbara S Rieckhoff, PhD

Second Advisor

Leodis Scott, PhD

Abstract

Community policing is best described as how police departments work together with the community in solving problems. In several major U.S. cities, police departments have changed their residency requirements allowing their officers to reside outside of the municipality in which they are employed. One can assume that officers residing outside the community they serve may not have a high level of engagement in the area in which they work. The current movements to defund police departments led by politicians and members of various communities would imply that residing outside of the municipality in which officer's work would have no impact, or may be preferred. In this study, an emphasis was placed on whether residency requirements can assist in building better relationships with the community and build trust and credibility with the citizens they swore to serve and protect. For this study, data was collected over a 14 year period from the New York police department, a municipality without a police residency requirement as well as the Chicago Police Department, a municipality requiring residency requirements. It was found that police residency had no statistically significant effect on the police department in the Midwest and a statistically significant effect in the police department in the East Coast, as measured by violent crime and citizen complaints. To better understand residency requirements and the relationship between the community and policing, this study utilized credible research to help explain the relationship between police officers and citizens in the community. Our objective was to learn about the history of residency requirements and how it has changed, if at all. Our research also sought to determine if residency requirements had any impact on the relationship between a police department and the community. The study also highlights several successful practices used by police agencies to solve community problems.

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