Exploring the adoption of community policing: motivations, hybrid models, and the promise of policy reconfiguration

This study examines community policing (CP) adoption in four Latin American countries – Chile, Colombia, Uruguay, and Honduras – each characterised by a centralised policing system and unique contextual features. It explores how CP was adopted and what motivated the interest in reshaping domestic policing models with a policy originally developed in the Global North. This research employs a multi-method qualitative approach, integrating archival methods to collect policy documents (n = 97) and primary data from semi-structured interviews with government officials, senior police officers, experts, and international organisation officials (n = 67). The findings reveal a hybrid adoption of CP models with two variations: embedded adoption, integrating CP into a broader existing policing strategies in Chile, Colombia, and Uruguay, whereas Honduras preferred a focused approach with a specialised model. Various motivation types led to CP adoption: ideology-driven, aimed at democratising policing; relationship-driven motivation intended to enhance trust in the police; and pragmatic-driven, focused on addressing crime and insecurity. This study argues that while CP adoption has not fundamentally reshaped policing in these countries, it has primarily served as a model for reorienting service provision to meet public safety objectives. The policy implications underscore the need to comprehensively assess policing models from the Global North before their adoption in the distinct institutional and social landscapes of Latin American countries.