On the fringe of research the case of community policing /

This chapter documents the research methods of a study into community policing, a policing style that exists at the margin of mainstream policing. Quantitative research methods used in mainstream policing are not as effective for this preventative and problem-focused style, leading to criticism that community policing does not work. Semi-structured interviews and a policy analysis were conducted within the critical framework of Discourse Analysis to establish the gap between what the organisation wanted for community policing and what police officers implemented. This approach revealed how community policing contributed to organisational outputs, thus adding value to the community policing role