On the Study of Neighborhoods and the Police (From Community Policing: Contemporary Readings, P 309-326, 1998, Geoffrey P. Alpert and Alex Piquero, eds. -- See NCJ-181382)

• NCJ Number: 181392
• Author(s): Geoffrey Alpert; Roger Dunham; Alex Piquero
• Date Published: 1998
• Length: 18 pages
• Sale Source: Waveland Press, Inc.
• Publication Format: Book (Softbound)
• Publication Type: Literature Review
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This review of literature on neighborhoods and policing concludes that an understanding of neighborhood characteristics and the infrastructure of informal social control networks are necessary prior to the establishment of tailored policing strategies, particularly those centered around community policing.

Abstract

The analysis also suggests that police approaches to crime may be ill founded if they do not rest on understanding of the dynamics of particular neighborhoods. Descriptions of the neighborhood often assume that it is a continuation of a small town and a place where a true community spirit exists. A more appropriate approach focuses on the social unit rather than on the ecological unit and recognizes that neighborhoods differ in the types of characteristics shared by their members as well as in the level of intensity to which these residents adhere to the characteristics. Cohesive neighborhoods are an important sources of informal social control. Informal social control may take the form of close surveillance or questioning or of verbal correction of behavior regarded as inappropriate in the local context. Research on neighborhoods indicates that shared norms are less likely to develop in low-income neighborhoods that are heterogeneous in ethnic composition, family type, or lifestyle than in low-income, culturally homogeneous neighborhoods or in middle-class neighborhoods. Neighborhood factors also relate to crime, attitudes toward police, and citizen satisfaction with police. Community policing aims to increase emphasis on non-adversarial problem solving instead of traditional strategies that conflict with neighborhood norms. Certain police strategies that are tailored to community needs can help reduce crime, fear of crime, and disorder and can increase citizen satisfaction with police services. Findings suggest the need for police administrators to understand neighborhoods and the style of law enforcement desired by the community served as they decide how to allocate scarce police resources. Notes and 69 references