NCJ Number
202164
Date Published
September 2003
Length
45 pages
Annotation
This document discusses crime prevention strategies and police-community relations in a multi-cultural and densely populated neighborhood.
Abstract
The first goal of this study was to identify the specific public safety problems in the neighborhood that might be amenable to action by the people living and working in the neighborhood. The second goal was to identify the obstacles or impediments to the reduction or prevention of these public safety problems. The final goal was to develop a plan of action that people living and working in the neighborhood were willing and able to implement. Ten focus group meetings were conducted to inform the development of four different surveys. Neighborhood residents were hired and trained to collect the data of almost 800 surveys. Based on this data, the most pressing crime problem facing the neighborhood was identified as illegal drug sales. The second most pressing crime problem focused on soft crime or quality of life problems, such as vagrancy, vandalism, and prostitution. The impediments to the reduction of these problems were identified as lack of parental supervision of children, lack of responsibility of business owners, and lack of police-community interaction. A strategy was designed to help prevent these crimes, and solve quality of life problems, and improve police-community relations. The components of this strategy were residents, police officers, business owners, and religious leaders working together to implement the proposed strategy; neighborhood business and churches privately funding the proposed strategy; and police officers selecting to participate in the proposed strategy. 19 references, appendix