Fewer Resources Devoted To Community Policing   Cmdr. Leo
Schmitz, Englewood District, Chicago Police Department Sudhir
Venkatesh, professor, Columbia University  In community
policing, law enforcement emphasizes local citizen involvement
as a way to deter and prevent crime. But as local budgets are
slashed and police face layoffs in departments across the
country, fewer and fewer resources are dedicated to it.    This
is TALK OF THE NATION. I'm Neal Conan in Washington. Big budget
cuts are forcing police departments across the country to make
tough decisions. Camden, New Jersey, may eliminate its entire
force and ask the county to police the city. Two years ago, 80
police officers and 21 cadets were laid off in Oakland. As a
result, fewer and fewer resources are available for community
policing, the law enforcement approach that put cops back on the
corner 20 years ago and emphasized crime prevention through
local citizen involvement.  In a recent piece in The New
Republic, Sudhir Venkatesh pointed to an unl