From doorstep to dashboard: community-oriented policing, technology, and neighbourhood police officers

Abstract

This dissertation examines how digital technologies interact with community-oriented policing, with a particular focus on neighbourhood police officers in Belgium and the Netherlands. Rather than treating technology as a neutral or deterministic force, my research explores how digital tools are interpreted, adapted, and sometimes resisted in everyday police work. The central research question is: How does technology influence the way community-oriented policing unfolds in the actions of neighbourhood police officers?

Empirically, the dissertation is grounded in comparative ethnographic research conducted in local policing teams in Belgium and the Netherlands. Ethnographic fieldwork involved shadowing neighbourhood police officers during patrols, meetings, administrative work, and interactions with citizens, both offline and through digital channels. This approach made it possible to closely observe how digital systems are integrated into routine practices, how officers exercise discretion in their use, and how technology becomes entangled with relational work, local knowledge, and informal decision-making.

The findings show that community-oriented policing has not been replaced by digitalisation. Instead, its core principle of proximity remains central but is being reconfigured. Proximity is no longer produced solely through sustained physical presence, but through a shifting combination of face-to-face contact, digital communication, and information work.

Overall, the dissertation argues that the impact of digitalisation is institutionally and socially produced. Neighbourhood police officers are not passive recipients of technological systems but play a key role in translating, adapting, and sometimes limiting their use. Community-oriented policing thus demonstrates a capacity to adapt to digital conditions, provided that technology governance recognises human agency, professional judgement, and the relational foundations of policing in contemporary societies.