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CJE3444 - Crime Prevention
Chapter 11: Partnerships for Crime Prevention
Partnerships for Crime Prevention
“The first thing to understand is that public peace--the sidewalk and street peace--is not kept
primarily by the police, necessary as police are. It is kept primarily by an intricate, almost
unconscious, network of voluntary controls and standards among the people themselves. No
amount of police can enforce civilization where the normal causal enforcement of it has broken
down” (Jacobs, 1961)
Partnerships
 The onus for action is on the police and social service agencies, in cooperation with one
another and the general public
 Interaction and cooperation is encouraged between police officers, residents, community
groups, and other agencies to solve problems
 Key assumption is there are underlying factors that lead to crime and other problems in a
community.
Traditional Policing
 Answer calls for service (crime-related)
 Conduct investigations
 Make arrests
 Assist in the prosecution of offenders
 Crime fighting and prevention is primarily the responsibility of the police
o Police are judged by level of crime and arrests
 20% of their time is spent on this

Order-Maintenance Functions
o Do not deal with immediate criminal action
 Assisting motorists
 Funeral or parade escorts
 Delivering messages (e.g., death notification)
 Public speaking
Past efforts to curtail crime and address criticism:
 Reintroduction of foot patrol
o Reduces the level of citizens’ fear
o Improves attitudes toward the police
o Mixed improvement on crime
 Police Sweeps/intensive patrol
o Reduce crime
o Temporary impact
Community Policing
 One of these networks of control is community policing
 Community Policing does not have one set definition. However, it does include:
o A change in policing strategies
o An active group of citizens
o A combination of the two in an attempt to prevent or remove crime where it
flourishes
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Community Policing
 Community policing includes 4 subcategories:
o
o
o
o
Community Involvement
Problem Solving
Community Base
Redefined Goals
Community Involvement
 Cooperation between the police and community.
 Community members may be individual citizens, citizen groups, business associations,
legislative bodies, and other local agencies
 Citizens must be involved in identifying and solving all sorts of community problems—not
just criminal acts.
 They must react when they see something out of the norm.
Problem Solving
 May be the most important element of community policing.
 Problem solving is more than just “reactive” policing, it must discover the underlying causes
of crime and remove/repair them.
 A key is the use of “problem oriented policing”--approaching issues and problems differently
based on the uniqueness of each situation.
o Involves sustained order maintenance focusing on specific problems and needs over a
limited period.
Community Base
 Decentralization of the police department.
o Neighborhood stations
o Storefront offices
o Foot patrol
 Specific beats with long term assignments are required.
 Daily interaction with the community allows for increased trust and presence, as well the
ability to gather information from a cooperating community
Redefined Goals
 Results can no longer be on the number of arrests.
 Community policing looks at underlying goals as well and “fear” and comfort of living
situations must be addressed.
 Increasing police presence and community cohesion is a primary goal, not increasing arrest
statistics.
 Community policing emphasizes the ends, rather than the means to the ends.
How does it work?
1) Decentralized police force
- Smaller police units
2) Changes in training, recruiting, and response
3) A need for both vehicle and foot patrol officers
4) Community policing is PROACTIVE
- The core of community policing is found in the proactive approach of CRIME
PREVENTION and reduction of crime and not as much in the apprehension of criminals
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PREVENT FIRST, APPREHEND WHEN NEEDED
Problem Identification
SARA approach (Eck & Spelman, 1989):
Scanning
Analysis
Response
Assessment
SARA
1. Scanning: Problem Identification
What is a problem?
A group of two or more incidents that are similar in one or more respects, causing harm and,
therefore, being of concern to the police and the public
The primary purpose of scanning is to conduct a preliminary inquiry to determine whether a
problem really exists and whether further analysis is needed
Surveys
Problems brought forth by citizens
Observations by officers
SARA
1. Analysis: The Heart of Problem-Solving
A set of systematic, analytical processes providing timely and pertinent information to assist
operational and administrative personnel
Bring together a diversity of expertise and insight
Police
City/county attorney
Schools
Probation officers
The purpose is to learn as much as possible about a problem in order to identify its causes
Identifying the seriousness of the problem
Identifying all the individuals or groups involved
Identifying all the causes of the problem
Assessing the current responses and their effectiveness
SARA
3. Response: Formulating Tailor-Made Strategies
The ultimate challenge in problem-oriented policing
Focuses on developing and implementing responses to the problem
Concerned with long-range problems and projections of long-term increases or decreases in
crime
Administrative
Focuses on provision of economic, geographic, or social information to administration
SARA
4. Assessment: Evaluating Overall Effectiveness
Evaluate the effectiveness of the responses
Assessment is the key in the SARA process
For COPS to succeed, the following are required
 Conducting accurate community needs assessment
 Mobilizing all players to collect data
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 Determining appropriate resource allocations and creating new resources where
necessary
 Developing and implementing innovative, collaborative, comprehensive
programs to address underlying causes and causal factors
 Evaluating programs and modifying approaches as needed
Community Policing in Practice
 Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy (CAPS).
o Began in five of the city’s 25 police beats
o Key aspects of the program: Assigning officers to permanent neighborhood beats, the
involvement of residents in the identification of problems and potential solutions, and
reliance on other agencies (both public and private) to address identified issues.
o Citizen interaction is the cornerstone
o Police initiate beat meetings to meet neighborhood residents and engender
meaningful interaction
Community Policing in Practice
 Civil abatement -The use of landlords, health codes, and zoning regulations in place of the
criminal court to deal with problem properties
 Property owners can be fined or property seized. Very productive in eliminating drug and
gang activity in select areas.
Community Policing in Practice
 Weed and Seed
 Federally funded program which began in 1991
 Idea is to “weed” out crime and “seed’ in new and productive community needs and crime
prevention strategies
 To be productive, a detailed seeding plan must be implemented before any weeding takes
place
Problems
 Seeding aspects of the program are hard to achieve
 Many locations need prolonged weeding
 Failure to adequately prosecute individuals arrested
 Should target Weed and seed efforts at smaller geographic areas that are more easily
mobilized and change
Additional Programs
 Comprehensive Communities Program (CCP)
o Group of community individuals, agencies, and groups engaged in problem-solving
 Strategic Approaches to Community Safety Initiative (SACSI)
o Partnership between U.S. Attorney’s Office and criminal justice agencies engaged in
fighting violent crime
o Five Core Components: Partnerships, strategic plans, training, outreach, and
accountability
 Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN)
o Outgrowth of SACSI focused on reducing firearms violence’’
 Operation Cease Fire
Evaluation
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Mainly process evaluations
Great deal of time spent on describing activities
Few of the sites provide outcome measures on changes in crime
o Those that do, generally fail to provide data from comparable control areas
Gun Violence
 Boston’s Operation Ceasefire had positive results
o Drop in juvenile homicide
o Reduction of calls to the police regarding shots fired
o Drop in assaults with a guns
 L.A. and Atlanta did not experience similar results
Community-Wide Approach to Gang Prevention, Intervention, and Suppression Program
 Strategies aimed at suppression, opportunities provision, and social interventions in
partnership with schools, employment agencies, social service agencies, and law enforcement
 Mixed results
 Programs that used a wider array of interventions than suppression activities had the most
positive results
Problems and Concerns
 Order maintenance.
o Police activity that includes such things as escorting funerals, responding to
barking dogs, and dealing with false alarms
o Upwards of 80% of police work is spent doing order maintenance.
o Is this good or bad?
Problems and Concerns
 Change in philosophy imposed on police officers (traditional to community policing)
 Differences in the level and type of resources
o Need for additional police officers
 Partnerships not truly representative of the community
 Failure to adequately identify the target problem
 Failure to recruit qualified staff for implementation
Problems and Concerns
1) Resistance from builders (economical and/or lack of knowledge and experience)
(CPTED)
2) Lack of interest from local government
3) Resistance from social workers and sociologists or lack of interest
4) Weak interest in crime prevention from insurance companies, as they, although indirectly,
profit from crime
Keys to Successful Implementation
Summary
 Successful implementation of community policing initiatives include:
 Cooperation of both police and community
 Proper funding
 Organization of community and Re-organization of the police department
 Evaluation of strategies
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END OF CHAPTER 11