CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

In the study of K Abdul Gafoor (2012), awareness can be either self-reported or

tested. Awareness measurement or level of awareness has the object of what

respondents know as well as what they do not know. Awareness in general means
being knowledgeable, being conscious, cognizant, informed and alert.

Awareness is the capacity of an individual to be informed, understand and be

interested about a particular subject. Assessing a person's knowledge and awareness is

essential to ensure its understanding and change their behavior to mitigate the spread

of a particular crime.

On the other hand, R.A. 6975 otherwise known as the "Department of the Interior

and Local Government (DILG) Act of 1990", an act establing the Philippine National

Police under a reorganized Department of the Interior and Local Government , and for

other purposes. It is operationalized and initiated the call for a tangible reform in the

country's public safety services particularly for the uniformed bureaus under DILG.

It is hereby declared to be the policy of the State to promote peace and order,

ensure public safety and further strengthen local government capability aimed towards

the effective delivery of the basic services to the citizenry through the establishment of a

highly efficient and competent police force that is national in scope and civilian in

character. Towards this end, the State shall bolster a system of coordination and

cooperation among the citizenry, local executives and the integrated law enforcement

and public safety agencies created under this Act.

 Subject to the limitations provided in the Constitution, the President shall

recommend to Congress the promulgation of policies on public order and safety to

protect the citizenry from all forms of lawlessness, criminality and other threats to peace

and order. This act discusses the responsibilities of police officers to the community

such as Clean-up Drives, Patrolling, Symposium, etc. Which scopes the Police-

community Relationship Programs.

Moreover, according to Sanchez & Muscato (2022), police-community relations is

a term that can encompass everything from the physical interactions between officers
and civilians to the intangible emotions between them such as respect and trust.

Police-Community Relation Programs are programs done by law enforcement

agents to create harmonious relationship towards the community by means of crime

awareness information, campaign and programs to mitigate the spread of criminality.

This program build and develop trust between the police and the citizen which results

police works to be more efficient.

In addition, there are types of Police Community Relation Programs in which

Public Information Program is involved. It is designed to bridge any communication gap

between the police and public. The examples of the Public Information Programs are

seminars, symposium, and public discussions. Criminology students are encouraged to

attend and participate on some of the said programs such as symposium in which law

and community related topics are being tackled. The primary purpose of these

programs is to create an environment where criminology students are able to engage

and be knowledgeable in criminal policy matters.

Furthermore, this study aims to determine the level of awareness of criminology

students regarding Police-Community Relation Programs in terms of comprehension,

participation and evaluation. This paper also wants to identify the benefits of the said
program to the academic performance of Criminology Students at Eastern Samar State

University Can-avid.

Rationale of the Study

The level of awareness vary from the personal knowledge of a person on a

certain phenomenon or crime. This study look into identifying the Level of Awareness of

Students Regarding Community Relation Programs in terms of comprehension,

participation and evaluation. This study will be beneficial to the students, instructor,
especially to law enforcement agents to measure on how the students evaluate this

information which will be applied on future endeavors.

Objectives of the Study

This study aims to determine the Level of Awareness of the Students Regarding

the Police-Community Relation Programs in Eastern Samar State University Can-avid.

Specifically, this study aims to answer the following objectives:

• to determine the demographic profile of students in terms of:

a. Age

b. Sex
 c. Year Level

• to analyze the level of awareness of the students regarding Police-

Community Relation Programs

• to identify the benefits of Police-Community Relation Programs to the

academic performance of students

• to estimate the level of understanding of students towards the topic/crimes

that are being discussed

• to understand the importance of Police-Community Relation Programs

towards the effectiveness and strength between the community and law

enforcement

Statement of the Problem

This study aims to determine the Level of Awareness of the Criminology Students

Regarding the Police-Community Relation Programs in Eastern Samar State University

Can-avid.

Specifically, this study aims to answer the following problems:

1) What is the demographic profile of criminology students in terms of:

1.1 Age;

1.2 Sex; and

1.3 Year Level

2) What are the level of awareness of the criminology students regarding

Police-Community Relation Programs?

3) What are the benefits of Police-Community Relation Programs to the

academic performance of criminology students?

4) How far is the level of understanding of students towards the

topic/crimes that are being discussed in terms of:

4.1. Comprehension;

4.2 Participation; and

4.3 Evaluation

5) What is the essence of Police-Community Relation Programs towards

the effectiveness and strength between the community and law

enforcement in terms of:

5.1 Public Information

5.2 Public Awareness

5.3 Crime Prevention

Significance of the Study

To the Students

This study will be beneficial to criminology students in motivating and

encouraging them to engage and participate to Police-Community Relation Programs

that will broaden the horizon of their knowledge in terms of crime prevention and

awareness.

To the Teachers/Instructors

This research will help the teachers to encourage their students to participate in

Police-Community Relation Programs. The teachers will also be able to take reasonable

actions on how their students can comprehend, participate and evaluate the topics that

are being discussed.

To the University

This research is useful to improve the quality of education and develop a

harmonious relationship between law enforcement and the community.

To Future Researchers

This study may become a good source of data if in case that they are going to

conduct a study relevant to this topic.

Scope and Limitation of the Study

This study focuses only on the student's level of awareness regarding Police-

Community Relation Programs. This will be conducted at Eastern Samar State

University Can-avid Campus located at Barangay 10, Can-avid, Eastern Samar,

Philippines. The school is selected mainly on the proximity of its location to the

researcher and on the kind of education. The respondents are the criminology students

of the College of Criminal Justice Education from first year to third year of the said

school.
Definition of Terms

Level of Awareness- refers to the level of consciousness is a term used to describe a

person's awareness and understanding of what is happening in his or her surroundings.

Police Community Relation Programs- are the approach or the actions taken by the

police to build a harmonious relationship towards the community. Police community

relation is defined as attitudes and behaviors between the police and the communities

they serve.

R.A. 6975- otherwise known as the "Department of the Interior and Local Government

(DILG) Act of 1990", an act establing the Philippine National Police under a reorganized

Department of the Interior and Local Government , and for other purposes. It is

operationalized and initiated the call for a tangible reform in the country's public safety

services particularly for the uniformed bureaus under DILG.

Community- a group of people with diverse characteristics who are linked by social

ties, share common perspectives, and engage in joint action in geographical locations

or settings.
Comprehension- is the complex cognitive process involving the intentional interaction

between reader and text to extract meaning.

Participation- the action of taking part in something.

Evaluation- is the structured interpretation and giving of meaning to predicted or actual

impacts of proposals or results.

Law Enforcement- describes the individuals and agencies responsible for enforcing

laws and maintaining public order and public safety.

Understanding- is the power of comprehending especially the capacity to apprehend

general relations of particulars.

Programs- a plan of activities to be done or things to be achieved.

Public Information- means information prepared, owned, used, or retained by any

public agency relating to the transaction of official business, regardless of form, except

for confidential information that must be protected against public disclosure under

applicable law.

Public Awareness- is the public's level of understanding about the importance and

implications of a certain program or an activity.

Crime Prevention- is the attempt to reduce and deter crime and criminals. It is applied

specifically to efforts made by governments to reduce crime, enforce the law, and

maintain criminal justice.

Academic Performance- is the extent to which a student, teacher, or institution has

attained their short or long-term educational goals and is measured either by continuous

assessment or cumulative grade point average.

Criminology Students- are students who are studying criminology and pursuing

Bachelor of Science in Criminology.

Relationship- refers to the correspondence between two variables.

CHAPTER II

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Foreign Literature

Crime causes economic, health, well-being, psychological effects and society at

large. Crime is a serious social problem that directly reduces the quality of the life of

individuals and the community. However, the police are the most visible institution

devoted in fighting crime twenty-four hour a day and seven days a week. In support of

this idea Morgan states that the primary function of police is concerned with preventing

crime and catching criminals (Morgan, 2008). However, the police without the lively

involvement of the community face difficulty in tackling crime (Palmiotto, 2007). The

community relation is the total effort of the criminal justice system to become an
accepted part of the community. This idea is strengthen by saying that “Police cannot

succeed in solving or preventing crime without the assistance of the community”. Thus,

to prevent crime successfully there must be a community partnership and involvement.

This fact indicates the need of the involvement of the community, the local government

and the police to work together to tackle crime. Therefore, the community policing has

become a major issue for many countries in the world. Community Policing is the best

way of policing currently; working together with the community on the basis of

partnership should be the primary concern of the police, thus understanding the
dynamics of human relations, agents of criminal justice system is a must to be able to

utilize and implement the various techniques designed to reach the community (Denny

F. Pace Community Relations Concepts fourth edition).

According to Community Policing to Reduce and Prevent Violence against

Women community policing is an organization-wide philosophy and management

approach that promotes partnerships, proactive problem solving, and community

engagement to address the causes of crime, the fear of crime and other community

issues‟ (Police Executive Research Forum 2008). Similarly, Jenny Coquilhat defined

community policing as "A philosophy of policing that promotes community-based

problem-solving strategies to address the underlying causes of crime and disorder and

fear and provides reassurance. It is a process by which crime control is shared, or co-

produced with the public and a means of developing the communication with the public

thus enhancing the quality of life of local communities and building police legitimacy

(Coquilhat, 2008).

Community service refers to the activities whereby police engage in pro-social

activities to enhance the well-being of the community beyond law enforcement and

order maintenance. Police are obliged to provide a policing service which has to be

efficient and effective often referred as service orientation. It is described in the works of
Trojanowicz and Bucqueroux (2006). "There must be equity in service delivery". This

means a principle in the delivery of police service recognizes that all citizens will have to

receive effective police service, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, religious beliefs,

income, sexual preferences, and other differences. Service orientation further explained

by St. Petersburg police department (2011), as to be "service-oriented" is to be "other

oriented" not in the sense of sacrificing your needs for someone else, but rather in

consideration of needs that are inclusive of both yours and others. It is a win-win

proposition. To "serve" is to "seek" to "include rather than to exclude". It is the

awareness of and respect for diversity, individual differences, and basic human rights.

The community policing characterized by community partnership, which means

adopting a policing perspective that exceeds the standard law enforcement (Skogan,

2008). Community Policing encourages the police and other agencies to develop

partnership with the community for constructive information sharing, and effective

policing activity (Radalet, 2007). Crime develops out a neighborhood disorder and

decay. As law abiding residents see the conditions around them deteriorating, they feel

a lack of control in the environment. Disorder and decay empower criminal, who then

seize control and a spiraling of crime rate begins.

The role of the community police officer is to empower law abiding citizens to

take back the control to their environment. Community policing is a commitment to

provide a policing decentralized and personalized police service to neighborhoods. As

indicated in the Community Policing Consortium (Police Integrity 2005). Trust between

the police and the community is the cornerstone of the effective community policing.

The incidence of corruption and abuse of power can harm the image of the police in

their community. Community policing gives a name and a face to the police so that the

residents will feel that the police are people they can trust and work with. Trust reduces

mutual suspicions of police and residents and it provides foundation that allows the
police and the community to collaborate (Trojanowicz, 2007). Community policing sees

the community as the source of information. It must be utilized because without the

information from the community the work of the police is doomed to failure. Community

policing creates a daily contact with the community to realize that the police officers is a

friend and in return, enabling the police to get to know his community. In this way police

ensures that the members of the community, voluntarily provide valuable crime related

information. Communication must be timely, comprehensive and direct (BJA& Oliver,

2010). Community crime prevention often involves the active participation of local
residents and organizations in those communities and neighborhoods. They may be

involved in identifying local priorities as well as implementing responses. (UN Office on

Drugs and Crime Vienna). One of the most common assumptions on crime prevention

is that it can be clearly separated from the other areas of activity, and that it is restricted

to academia, or solely to the province of the police and justice system. Community

policing has distinctive characteristics. (Kelling and Moore, 2010)

Local Literature

The Doctrine of Reciprocal Responsibility required that the police and the

community must be working together to attain the healthy and peaceful environment.

Through community policing, the organizational strategies to address the causes of

crimes, to reduce the fear of crime and problem-solving tactics and community- police

involvement. (Florendo 2008, Revised Police Ethics and Community Relations)

Police Community Affairs are activities outside law enforcement but which

necessitates PNP support and or participation. This results a contribution for a better

appreciation and enhance support to the police organization in a whole. They also

quoted the democratic concept of policing wherein the police are the people, and the

people are the police, this means that every police officer is required to protect lives and

property, preserve peace and order and prevent crimes and other civil disturbances
(Manwong and Delizo 2005, Law Enforcement Administration)

According to Varona (2009) community relationship between police and the

community is a good way to improve the programs of the police organization that needs

cooperation both of the community and police; however, policemen nowadays are

having hard times in gaining the trust and good relationship with the community. Thus,

this only means that there might be a problem and difficulties in the Implementation of

the programs of Police Organization especially when it is related and needs the

assistance of the community. This only means that the police cannot function properly
and effectively without the full cooperation and assistance of the community they serve.

According to the Police Community Relations Manual (2012), it emphasizes that

partnership with the community will be a central focus. Police managers will recognize

the interconnectedness between their activities and those of other public services, such

as housing, welfare and employment agencies. The police of the future will view

themselves as one part of community-wide effort to not only deal with crime but to

improve community life in general.

Peckley and Eduardo (2010) discussed and emphasized that police departments

serve a critical and primary role in providing immediate intervention and assistance to

victims of crime. Unlike most social services agencies, police departments are typically

open every day of the year, 24-hours a day.

Manwong and Foronda (2009) in their book emphasize the relationship of the

police and the community established and maintained through police community

cooperation. The police enlist the support of the community to prevent the commission

of crime, to eradicate drugs, and to arrest suspects and criminals. The prompt solution

of crime and the immediate arrest of criminals are achieved through strong and healthy

police–community partnership. The establishment of community based anti-crime

groups in the locality through police community partnership helps enhanced and

sustained public safety undertakings.

Radalet and Carter as cited in the article “Poor Community Relations” (2010)

said that poor communication between the police and communities served as the

problem most frequently, in a variety of ways, by police and community members

surveyed. When asked what the main problems are, when it comes to police community

relations, police listed “language barriers”, “connecting with the community” and “lack of

meaningful communication on both sides” and “lack of understanding of police

practices” as obstacles to better relations. This list is similar to the one provided by

community members, who listed “lack of communications, “language barriers” and “lack

of relationships” as barriers to getting along with the police. These findings supported

the result of the study conducted by Holgado in 2009 who found that the residents of

Lucena City did not encounter problems in the implementation of the PCR programs of

the Lucena City Police.

CHAPTER III

METHODOLOGY

Research Design

This study details the Correlational Research as research design which is to fully

determine the level of awareness among students regarding police-community Relation

Programs. This study is done by the method of interviewing that collected data from
criminology students of Eastern Samar State University during finals S. Y. 2022-2023.

Respondents of the Study

This study is entitled "Level of Awareness Among Criminology Students

Regarding Police-community Relation Programs" and was created as a requirement in

Practical Research I by the student researcher of 3rd year criminology student. A total of

100 respondents were selected through simple random sampling in the students of

criminology department.

Data Gathering Procedure

There are 100 students selected in 3 sections of criminology department that will

be interviewed to answer the test questionnaires. The researcher will personally

administer the research instruments and the respondents. When the questionnaires are

already been accomplish, the result will be tailed and tabulated. This date becomes the

basis of analysis and interpretation. To ensure the right number of respondents, the

researcher will use Slovin's Formula with a sample frequency of 50 males and 50

females. Slovin's formula is used to calculate the sample size (n) given the population

size (N) and a margin of error e. It is a random sampling technique formula to estimate

sampling size. It is computed as n=N/1+Ne².

Where:

N=B (50) N=G (50) e= 0.05

n=N/1+Ne²

=50/1+50 (0.05)²

=50/1+50 (0.0025)
 =50/1+0.25

=50/1.25
n=40

Sex F S Cluster

Male 50 40 17

Female 50 40 17

Total 100 80 34

Therefore, a total of 34 respondents will be selected from each classes of

criminology department.

Instrumentation and Validation

This study made use of the researcher's prepared questionnaires consisting of

eight (8) items relative to the objectives of the study. Part I aims to determine the

demographic profile of the respondents which contains the age, sex, and year level
while Part II aims to determine the level of awareness of the students regarding police-

community relation programs. To ensure the validity of the prepared questionnaires, the

researcher have shown the draft to research experts for comments and suggestions.

Data Analysis

The data collected will be tabulated and summarized through Frequency Count

and Percentage and Weighted Arithmetic Mean. In statement number 1, it will be using

Frequency Count and Percentage which pertains to the body of the frequency table that

contains the following summary of data for each distinct value found in the variable.
Frequency (count) is the number of occurrences of the corresponding code (value).

Percent occurrence of the code count divided by total number of observations.

Frequency count and percentage is used to determine the percentage usually for data

profile. (e. g. age, sex, year level, etc.)

Where: %-percent f-frequency N-number of cases

Formula: %=f/Nx100

In statement number 2 it will be using weighted arithmetic formula. Weighted

arithmetic mean is defined as the sum of their products (wx) divided by the sum of their

weights. Thus, weighted arithmetic formula is computed by considering the relative

importance of each items to called weighted arithmetic formula.

Where: Wm- weighted mean f-frequency of responses

N-total number of responses n-sample population

Formula: Wm= £fn/N

STUDENT'S LEVEL OF AWARENESS REGARDING R.A. 6975 ALSO KNOWN AS AN

ACT ESTABLISHING THE PHILIPPINE NATIONAL POLICE UNDER REORGANIZED

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR AND LOCAL

GOVERNMENT SPECIFICALLY ON COMMUNITY

RELATION PROGRAMS

In Partial Fulfilment of the Course Requirements for the Degree of

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN CRIMINOLOGY

EL JAY S. JONGCO
JERIEL IVAN J. GEROY
Researchers
KIM KRISTEL M. NOTARTE
Research Teacher

2023