NCJ Number
81053
Date Published
1981
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This progress report discusses the goals, objectives, and accomplishments of the Rock Island Anticrime Block Club (Illinois), a community crime prevention program.
Abstract
The goals of the project were to instill in people the sense of being part of a community, to break down their isolation, and to ease racial tensions. The project sought to build grassroots involvement in neighborhood and community crime prevention by urging residents to watch for and report crimes in their own neighborhoods and to take steps to better secure their homes against burglary. It also aimed to involve youths and parents in planning youth activities, to involve the elderly in crime prevention programs, to make physical improvements in the neighborhoods to reduce crime, to improve communication and cooperation among neighborhood residents and criminal justice officials, and to build a coalition of residents to work together to improve the quality of life in the area. By the end of the grant period, 62 block clubs had been set up; almost 1,000 families were participating in the Neighborhood Watch program; over 500 families had used the engraver in connection with Operation Identification; and more than 700 households were participating in Operation Whistle Stop. Calls from residents to the police doubled, and the overall crime rate fell during the grant period. Problems encountered during the life of the project are mentioned. No references are cited.