NCJ Number
87954
Journal
Police Chief Volume: 50 Issue: 2 Dated: (February 1983) Pages: 26-41
Date Published
1983
Length
16 pages
Annotation
Five articles on methods of reducing residential crime focus on neighborhood crime prevention programs which include property identification, target hardening, Neighborhood Watch efforts, and publicity efforts.
Abstract
Community crime prevention efforts may include formal or informal programs to increase citizen awareness, organize citizens into groups to channel individual and collective efforts into a coordinated neighborhood approach, encourage prompt reporting of crimes or suspicious activity in the neighborhood, and use advice and training from the police department. In Evanston, Illinois, the police-community comprehensive crime prevention program evolved from extensive research and planning. The program focuses on the residential, commercial, and educational sectors of the community and developed a stable partnership between the police department and these sectors. The police department committed added resources to crime prevention activities, changed its crime prevention role from a reactive to a proactive approach, and implemented extensive training efforts on crime prevention. In Cypress, California, the police department enlisted the aid of real estate professionals to establish a Neighborhood Watch program in each targeted high-crime district. In Manhattan Beach, California, a group of concerned citizens organized and implemented a Neighborhood Watch program. The police department in Arlington County (Virginia) conducted a directed patrol program to reduce robberies between November 1981 and January 1982. The program focused on evening hours, when robberies most often occurred. Both total county robberies and the percentage of robberies occurring during evening section hours both declined from the levels of the previous year.