NCJ Number
79717
Date Published
1981
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This evaluation of the Portland Police Bureau's Commercial Security Survey Program (Oregon) addresses whether program participants complied with recommendations made on the security survey and whether participants experienced fewer victimizations than before participation in the program.
Abstract
To determine the effectiveness of the security survey program, in which a police representative 'surveys' a business to determine security risks and then recommends methods of improving building security, participants were interviewed via telephone and the Police Bureau's Columbia Region Information Sharing System computer was queried. A total of 105 persons were interviewed, and a 1-year time frame was allowed on either side of the date of service to measure the effects of the survey. A total of 72.4 percent of the 105 businesses complied in all, or in part, with the recommendations made in the survey. An analysis of reported forced entry burglaries showed a 33-percent reduction in the burglary rate among survey participants 12 months after participation in the program as compared to 12 months before participation. Southeast Portland experienced the most dramatic decline in commercial burglaries with an 87.5-percent burglary decrease among participating businesses. Tables, seven references, and the security survey questionnaire are appended.