NCJ Number
177364
Journal
Security Journal Volume: 12 Issue: 1 Dated: 1999 Pages: 41-52
Date Published
1999
Length
12 pages
Annotation
In a unique crime prevention project in Leicester, England, the practical implementation of a strategy to reduce commercial burglary by taking positive actions with recent victims showed remarkable results in just a few months.
Abstract
Referred to as the Leicester Small Business and Crime Initiative, the project was designed to increase risks for offenders by enhancing burglary detection levels and aimed to fill the knowledge gap about effects of crime on the small business sector. An analysis of repeat victimization demonstrated the need for prompt action in response to burglary and showed the chances of becoming a repeat victim diminished over time. About 43 percent of repeat burglaries occurred within 2 months of the initial burglary, and 56 percent occurred within 3 months. Police visits with burglary victims showed that many victimized businesses did not have alarms and that offenders still committed burglary in alarmed premises but did so with speed and aggression. The project placed portable silent alarms in businesses without alarms and closed circuit television systems in businesses with alarms. Over an 11-month period, information was collected from 154 burglary victims. In terms of achieving arrests, data showed the strategy was inconsequential. In terms of crime reduction, however, the strategy was effective at a relatively low cost in terms of both personnel and material. 25 notes, 2 tables, and 3 figures