Evolution of Community Policing Decades later, during the 1980s and 1990s politicians, law enforcement and citizens still continued to struggle with problems of crime, reports of brutality of police, increased arrests and incarceration of people of color, high homicide rates, a drug epidemic, and mistrust between the police and many minority citizens. Most attributed these problems to a lack of job opportunities and an exploding drug epidemic, which has plagued many cities, minority communities and citizens. Another factor that contributed to straining police-community relations was President Ronald Reagan's 1982 declaration declaring a war on drugs, which many minorities (blacks and Hispanics) saw as an attack on their communities. in 1994 the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), under then-President Bill Clinton, created a community policing consortium, composed of law enforcement officials and community leaders from across the country . From this community policing consortium, the BJA produced a report entitled Understanding Community Policing, a Framework for Action, focused on developing a conceptual framework for community policing and assisting agencies in implementing community policing proximity. The basis for this consortium was much more direct than previous efforts established by presidential commissions during the 1960s and 1970s, and led to what became known as Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS, Title 1 of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act). of 1994). The major components outlined in the BJA report list the two core components complementary to community policing as community partnership and problem solving. The report also states that effective community policing depends on positive contact between patrol officers and community members, establishing and maintaining mutual trust as the primary objective of a community partnership, and that the police and community must join together to encourage and preserve. Today, in 2015, community policing is as relevant as it has ever been in the history of American policing, as many law enforcement agencies across the country continue to seek to build stronger relationships and establish partnerships among law enforcement officers. police and the communities they serve, especially minority communities. Since the 1990s and early 2000s, many police agencies have come to accept the concepts of community-oriented policing and have made great strides toward better community-policing relations. Many departments now meet regularly with neighborhood groups, allow citizens to participate in citizen police academies, conduct forums to provide citizens with a better understanding of the duties of police officers and their actions. Some police departments require and encourage officers to exit the patrol vehicle and initiate positive contact with people in their areas (Shusta, Levine, Wong, Olson, & Harris, 2011). All of these efforts are important and relevant to community policing, which helps remove and decrease negative images of police officers. Citizens are more willing to work side by side with police officers who are available, committed and take responsibility for the neighborhoods they serve, which is what community policing is all about.