NCJ Number
86876
Date Published
1981
Length
22 pages
Annotation
An empirical analysis of burglary incidents in California concluded that police investigations and deployment may influence clearance rates far less significantly than crime prevention programs involving citizen participation.
Abstract
During the period April through May 1973, data were compiled from 6 law enforcement agencies on 8,137 burglaries, including means used to gain entry, amount stolen, time of occurrence, type of premise entered, availability of artificial lighting, presence of a dog, and alarm systems. Residential burglaries comprised 70 percent of the incidents. Losses from burglary fell most frequently into the $200 to $499 range, and 18 percent of the incidents resulted is no loss. Doors and windows accounted for 94 percent of all illegal trespasses, and 38 percent of the burglaries required no force to gain entry. Only 31 percent of the burglarized premises had lighting at the point of entry, and many entry points were concealed by fences or shrubbery. Few houses had alarms or had been inspected for security prior to the burglary. Over four-fifths of all burglaries remained unsolved at the end of the study period. A review of the incident characteristics and associated clearance rates of all groups of burglaries revealed wide variation in clearance rates, but no general patterns. This suggests that factors which determine whether an incident is cleared involve chance more than an incident's characteristics. Consequently, community crime prevention programs emphasizing target hardening may be more effective than increased police activities in preventing burglaries. The article contains tables and 14 references. For related material, see NCJ-86875.