In a community effort to keep families safe, homes free of burglaries among other residential and environmental safeguards, citizens have taken the initiative to be pro-active in crime prevention efforts. Important goals such as the deterrence of crime, popular programs such as, Neighborhood Watch, have been established with the hopes to provide safer communities.
According to Wilson, R., Brown T.H, & Schuster, B. (2009), “the Neighborhood Watch program is a popular community effort that encourages citizens to work with local law enforcement to report any suspicious criminal activities.” For the most part, neighborhood watch programs post signs in their residential areas to alert potential criminals from victimizing the area. Furthermore, Wilson, R., Brown T.H, & Schuster, B. (2009) indicate, “the Neighborhood Watch program has influenced the startup of other residential crime prevention programs such as block watch, apartment watch, citizen alert and community watch.” One of the main problems faced by residents and families of a community is the fear of being victimized and/or hurt by criminals. With this in mind, the goal is to alter the community’s environment and provide a sense of security and deterrence to crime.
Several tools may be used to combat and prevent crime such as signs, better lighting, alarm and camera systems that may help accomplish such a task. How is the effectiveness of a neighborhood watch program measured? According to Slatter (2009), “the effectiveness of a watch program can be measured by 1). the relationship between citizens and residents which may be intensified with strong, positive communication and ties 2). residents are able to express and enjoy their safety and well-being and 3). more com...
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...is research article, the author paid attention to using literature that was examined, compared and tested in different areas.” This article advises policy makers and communities to form stronger relationships with police authorities and concentrate on preventing crime, reduce fear of crime and improve the lives of residents. It is important that other publications be reviewed and examined to find valid and reliable data that can be retested.
One of the questions for researchers is to identify how and if a neighborhood watch program would work in all types of neighborhoods. For the most part and according to these articles, neighborhood watch programs have proven to be effective. Would a program like this work in areas that are already infested with crime and poverty? The decision is up to the citizens to work together with law enforcement if they want a change.
According to Kelling, Pate, Dieckman, & Brown (1974), patrol is the “backbone” of police work. This belief is based around the premise that the mere presence of police officers on patrol prohibits criminal activity. Despite increasing budgets and the availability of more officers on the streets, crime rates still rose with the expanding metropolitan populations (Kelling et al., 1974). A one year experiment to determine the effectiveness of routine preventive patrol would be conducted, beginning on the first day of October 1972, and ending on the last day of September 1973.
In order for the police to successfully prevent crimes, public cooperation is needed. Various community policing programs have been implemented and it is important to discuss the benefits and limitations of these programs. Community policing allows the community to be actively involved and become a partner in promoting safety. This partnership increases trust of police officers and helps citizens understand that the police are on their side and want to improve their quality of life (Ferreira, 1996). The role of the police officers goes beyond that of a “crime fighter” and expands to multiple roles including that of a victim-centered
Hot spot policing is based on the idea that some criminal activities occur in particular areas of a city. According to researchers crime is not spread around the city instead is concentrated in small places where half of the criminal activities occur (Braga chapter 12). Also, many studies has demonstrated that hot spots do show significant positive results suggesting that when police officers put their attention on small high crime geographic areas they can reduce criminal activities ( Braga, papachristo & hureau I press). According to researchers 50% of calls that 911 center received are usually concentrated in less than 5% of places in a city (Sherman, Gartin, & Buerger, 1989; Weisburd, Bushway, Lum, &Yang, 2004). That is the action of crime is often at the street and not neighborhood level. Thus police can target sizable proportion of citywide crime by focusing in on small number of high crime places (see Weisburd & Telep, 2010). In a meta-analysis of experimental studies, authors found significant benefits of the hot spots approach in treatment compared to control areas. They concluded that fairly strong evidence shows hot spots policing is an effective crime prevention strategy (Braga (007) .Importantly, there was little evidence to suggest that spatial displacement was a major concern in hot spots interventions. Crime did not simply shift from hot spots to nearby areas (see also Weisburd et al., 2006).
1. National Crime Prevention Council. (2014). Neighborhood Watch. Retrieved from National Crime Prevention Council: http://www.ncpc.org/topics/home-and-neighborhood-safety/neighborhood-watch
Unfocused and indiscriminate enforcement actions will produce poor relationships between the police and community members residing in areas. Law enforcement should adopt alternative approaches to controlling problem areas, tracking hot persons, and preventing crime in problem regions. Arresting criminal offenders is the main police function and one of the most valuable tools in an array of responses to crime plagued areas, however hot spots policing programs infused with community and problem oriented policing procedures hold great promise in improving police and community relations in areas suffering from crime and disorder problems and developing a law enforcement service prepared to protect its nation from an act of
Community policing is a strategy used by various departments in order to create and maintain a relationship between the law enforcement agency and the community being patrolled. Community policing is composed of three critical components, community partnerships, organizational transformation, and problem solving (Gardiner, 154, 2016). Community partnerships are pivotal in community policing since they increase public trust and create am improved relationship in law enforcement agencies better serving the community (Gardiner, 87, 2016). These partnerships not only offer public input but also encourage the public to cooperate with law enforcement agencies in order to minimize crime within the community (Gardiner, 88, 2016). Unlike, the traditional strategies of policing, community orientated policing has been adopted by two-thirds of agencies in order to improve public safety and control crime. (Gardiner, 148, 2016).
Community oriented policing has been around for over 30 years, and promotes and supports organizational strategies to address the causes, and reduce the fear of crime and social disorder through problem solving tactics. The way community policing works is it requires the police and citizens to work together to increase safety for the public. Each community policing program is different depending on the needs of the community. There have been five consistent key elements of an effective community oriented policing program: Adopting community service as the overarching philosophy of the organization, making an institutional commitment to community policing that is internalized throughout the command structure, emphasizing geographically decentralized models of policing that stress services tailored to the needs of individual communities rather than a one-size-fits-all approach for the entire jurisdiction, empowering citizens to act in partnership with the police on issues of crime and more broadly defined social problems, for example, quality-of-life issues, and using problem-oriented or problem-solving approaches involving police personnel working with community members. Community oriented policing has improved the public’s perception of the police in a huge way. Community policing builds more relationships with the
Crime Analysis has many benefits to the community. Community engagement, targeted initiatives, strategic use of resources, and data-driven decision-making contribute to decreasing crime. Crime prevention and community satisfaction with police services, while linked to the number of officers on the streets, does not depend entirely on the visibility of patrol officers. Community engagement, targeted initiatives, strategic use of resources, and data-driven decision-making contribute to decreasing crime. So in closing I believe that departments that take the positive elements of foot patrols and combine their efforts with crime analysis that focuses on the time, location, and type of crime, may use the findings to develop strategies to decrease crime and enhance the quality of life in their communities.
Since the string of recent burglaries and crime in our neighborhood, Chief Gary Swindle has asked me to come up with a plan to create a Neighborhood Watch Program. This is a formal layout of how I plan to go about organizing a day and night watch, how I plan on selecting and screening our volunteers, what training will be required for those who choose to participate, and how I plan on maintaining interest and continued participation.
The key aspects to community policing involve having officers working in permanent neighborhoods, the involvement of citizens to identify problems and have potential solutions, and the reliance on agencies to help locate issues. The cornerstone of the program is the citizen interaction with the police. It is reported that communities that receive community policing funds have reduced levels of violent and property crimes, also has a greater number of arrests. Successful partnership helps with the reduction of gang and drug activities, area crime rate, and the improvement of the relationship between law enforcement and
We also look at some of the factors which hinder keep victims from reporting crime and assess some of the programs which have been put forth by law enforcement officers to reduce chances of vulnerable
To conclude, Community policing represents a major development in the history of American law enforcement, but the extent to which this approach is a success and dominates contemporary policing remains a source of debate. In my point of view, community policing is good for communities. It has challenged the traditional concept of the police as crime-fighters by drawing attention to the complexities of the police role and function. In addition to the police officer hard work; citizens can also make a difference and contribute to make neighborhoods a better place to live. For instance, citizens can hold community meetings to talk about concerns and agree on solutions help organize healthy activities for children in your neighborhood, join or starting a neighborhood crime watch program, and talk to your community police officers and share information and concerns.
National Center for Victims of Crime. (2001). Primary crime prevention. Retrieved December 2, 2013, from http://www.safetycops.com/crime_prevention.htm
Put the neighbor back into neighborhood by creating a sense of cooperation. Neighborhood Watch can play an important role in deterring future crimes such as arson or burglary. Building a strong and good relationship among government agencies like local fire department, emergency personnel, and law enforcement could be beneficial for the community in reducing arson.
Crime is a plague that has haunted American citizens for centuries. The severity of crime has ranged from running a red light to cold blooded murder. Statistics indicate that crime rates have been on the rise in the previous decades, especially juvenile crime. Statistics show that, ‘the number of youths aged 14 and younger who have been charged with homicide has jumped by 43 percent in the past twenty years’ (Kids With No Hope, No Fear, No Rules, And No Life, 2). This increase in juvenile crime has struck a chord of fear in many people . Motivated by this fear our society has to come up with a solution to this impending problem. While several suggestions have been offered, crime prevention is the most logical, effective and beneficial solution.