NCJ Number
175277
Date Published
Unknown
Length
0 pages
Annotation
This video of a teleconference uses the format of a panel and telephone questions and answers to illustrate and examine the principles and practices of community involvement in crime prevention.
Abstract
The panel is composed of representatives of various community institutions: the church, the school, the family, law enforcement agencies, and government. The panel first emphasizes the importance of community members assuming responsibility for the quality of life in their communities. This should be done through both individual actions and through structured collective action. The panel offers suggestions for both of these categories of action. Individual actions include assuming responsibility for the safety and security of one's own family while exerting a positive influence on the behavior of one's own children. Structured collective action includes an organization of mothers who walk their children to school to protect them from bullies who rob them, structuring opportunities for youth to use their leisure time positively, and working with police and government agencies to close "crack houses" and improve the quality of life in a community. Panel members discuss what they have done in their own communities to increase the quality of life in their communities. Practical suggestions are offered for organizing a community to identify and address problems, mobilize resources, and sustain motivation for an ongoing community commitment to improving the community and preventing crime. Various specific programs are profiled. Particular attention is given to the importance of community-police cooperation under the concept of community policing. The video concludes with a proclamation of National Crime Prevention Month.