Measuring What Matters: A New Way of Thinking About Crime and Public Order (From Measuring What Matters: Proceedings From the Policing Research Institute Meetings, P 27-35, 1999, Robert H. Langworthy, ed. -- See NCJ-170610)

• NCJ Number: 179857
• Author(s): George Kelling
• Date Published: 1999
• Length: 9 pages
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute of Justice (NIJ); US Department of Justice
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/NCJRS; NCJRS Photocopy Services
• Publication Format: Document
• Publication Type: Issue Overview
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This paper suggests new ways of compiling and evaluating crime statistics.

Abstract

The formal measures of police work have little to do with community needs. Lawlessness consists not just in the relatively rare "index" crimes counted by the FBI, but can also refer to an atmosphere of disorder in which it seems like these and less serious crimes and harassment might occur at any time. Low levels of recorded crime may reflect low crime rates, but they can also reflect a lack of confidence in police, i.e., citizens have come to expect so little from police that they often do not report crimes. The paper suggests that police should cease their preoccupation with official data. They should build databases that measure the problems citizens really care about, the ones that spread crime and fear, disrupting the trust of neighbor and community cooperation that is essential to preventing crime. They should develop databases that measure whether police are responding to these problems and databases that measure whether the problems are getting better.