NCJ Number
83404
Date Published
1980
Length
110 pages
Annotation
The Multnomah County Commercial Burglary Prevention Project (Oregon) is evaluated for its effectiveness in reducing burglaries among businesses employing the project's security recommendations.
Abstract
Between July 1977 and June 1978, the Multnomah County Department of Public Safety's Crime Prevention Unit conducted approximately 500 commercial premise security surveys. For each business, a thorough internal and external security assessment was completed. Approximately 6 months after the premise survey, all businesses were contacted to determine the degree of compliance with each of the security recommendations. It was assumed that compliance with the security suggestions would result in a significant decrease in the risk of burglary. The evaluation was performed to measure the effect of the security survey on a sample of 435 program participants and 225 nonsurveyed control businesses. Findings revealed that there were 18 percent fewer burglaries per business in the target group than in the control group during the 1-year postsurvey period. This difference, while not statistically significant, demonstrated a practically significant reduction in burglary risk. In addition, a countywide time-series analysis demonstrated that Multnomah County experienced a statistically insignificant decline in crime, while a comparable county not having a formal commercial premise program had a nearly significant increase in crime during the 2-year survey program period. Graphs, tables, and 13 references are provided. Supplementary data and the survey questionnaire are appended.