NCJ Number
200277
Date Published
February 2003
Length
8 pages
Annotation
This report presents an overview of evaluation findings for the eighth and ninth years of Chicago's Alternative Policing Strategy (CAPS), which encompasses the years from November 2000 to November 2003.
Abstract
CAPS involves problem solving on a broad scale, as it focuses on a wide range of neighborhood concerns in addition to crime. These include both physical decay and social disorder. The evaluation has tapped concern about these problems through regular surveys of city residents. Chicago's community policing initiative features important roles for the public. Beat community meetings constitute one of the most distinctive features of the community policing program. These are regular monthly gatherings of residents and officers who work in the area. Beat meetings are the primary means of building and sustaining close relationships between police and the general public. The meetings provide a forum for exchanging information and a venue for identifying, analyzing, and prioritizing problems in an area. Surveys of city residents indicated that awareness of beat community meetings by residents was stable during the 1990's, but dropped a bit in 2001. Residents who attended beat meetings were often involved in other CAPS-related activities. Survey data that focused on the beat meetings found that drug-related problems were among the most commonly discussed issues. Physical dilapidation was another frequent topic at beat community meetings. Parking and traffic congestion were also discussed, and concerns about gangs, property crime, and various forms of social disorder were often expressed. Complaints about police were voiced at 44 percent of the beat meetings. Based on their overall score, the evaluation found that meetings chaired jointly by residents and police were the most fruitful; however. there has been little progress in improving the community representativeness at beat community meetings since 1998. Latinos have been the most underrepresented racial or ethnic group, and participants at meetings have been disproportionately composed of homeowners (in contrast to renters), non-Latinos, and long-term residents.