NCJ Number
90370
Date Published
1982
Length
70 pages
Annotation
This study documents the impact on a South Florida community of a program to prevent residential burglaries.
Abstract
The full complement of the 'Help Stop Crime' (HSC) services consisted of media advertisements and information via the mail and (when possible) home security surveys. Home security surveys consisted of an inspection of a resident's home by an official of a police agency or the HSC office. The residents who received the full complement of services were designated sample HSC1, and the group that only received the media information was called HSC2. A third group was selected from outside the three-county area involved in the campaign to represent a community not exposed to any of the program components. A questionnaire used in interviews before and after the implementation of program operations yielded information on demographic characteristics, safety concerns, awareness of the HSC programs, knowledge of burglary relevant information, knowledge of crime prevention techniques, and measures taken to improve home security. Official data on burglary rates in the areas studied were also obtained. Media exposure alone did appear to have some effects on residents' knowledge and crime prevention behavior. Residents relatively uninformed about crime prevention measures benefited the most. Security surveys had an immediate effect on behaviors to implement crime prevention measures that required little time and financial investment, while behaviors requiring significant time and money investments were not affected immediately. Burglary rates in areas which received the full program treatment (with one exception) were below both the previous 2 months and the same period the previous year, indicating that the program reduced the incidence of residential burglaries in the targeted areas. Questionnaires are appended, and tabular data are provided.