[RP TownTalk] Responding to breakins and signs of disorderly behavior

[David Hiles]

My messages to this list are being moderated because I was judged to 
have violated the posting standards.
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How can we respond effectively?

Looks like Riverdalians are already taking some steps.  The following 
is excerpted from walkinginfo.org
****************************************************begin snip
If crime is a problem in your neighborhood, then people may be afraid 
to walk in your neighborhood. Fortunately, there are a number of ways 
that you can address this fear and make your neighborhood a pleasant 
and safe environment in which to live and walk. Two studies, one by the 
National Institute of Justice and one by the National Crime Prevention 
Council (NCPC), point to several specific ways that neighborhoods can 
decrease crime and take back their streets. Though each neighborhood 
has its own unique set of issues relating to crime, you can read 
through the list below to see what measures would be best for your 
neighborhood to take:

Work with your neighbors
• Influence city or town officials
• Develop prevention and treatment programs
• Deny criminals access to public places

Work with the police and the legal system
• Record information about criminal or suspicious activities in your 
neighborhood
• Contact the police as soon as you see or hear of a crime
• Be involved with court proceedings
• Take legal action

Approaches for specific problems
• Address loitering and panhandling issues
• Put a stop to graffiti and vandalism
• Install dawn to dusk lights and report street light outages to city 
and town officials
• Report scary dogs

Other approaches
• Debunk the fear
• Be street smart
• Educate the media
• Prevent crime through better neighborhood design
***************************************************end snip

Neighborhood Watch is frequently raised as a solution to street crime 
and petty burglary, often by politicians trying to be responsive.  
Public safety research does not support Neighborhood Watch as being 
effective at reducing crime, particularly in comparison to effective, 
professional "problem-oriented policing". Neighborhood Watch programs 
actually increase the feeling of insecurity in neighborhoods with such 
programs. For an example research summary, see the excerpt below.

"One of the most consistent findings in the literature is also the 
least well-known to policymakers and the public. The oldest and 
best-known community policing program, Neighborhood Watch, is 
ineffective at preventing crime. That conclusion is supported by 
moderately strong evidence, including a randomized experiment in 
Minneapolis that tried to organize block watch programs with and 
without police participation in areas that had not requested assistance 
(Pate et al, 1987). The primary problem found by the evaluations is 
that the areas with highest crime rates are the most reluctant to 
organize (Hope, 1995). Many people refuse to host or attend community 
meetings, in part because they distrust their neighbors. Middle class 
areas, in which trust is higher, generally have little crime to begin 
with, making measurable effects on crime almost impossible to achieve. 
The program cannot even be justified on the basis of reducing middle 
class fear of crime and flight from the city, since no such effects 
have been found. Rather, Skogan (1990) finds evidence that Neighborhood 
Watch increases fear of crime.

 From Chapter Eight
POLICING FOR CRIME PREVENTION
by Lawrence W. Sherman
http://www.ncjrs.gov/works/chapter8.htm

part of
PREVENTING CRIME:
WHAT WORKS, WHAT DOESN'T, WHAT'S PROMISING

A REPORT TO THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS
Prepared for the National Institute of Justice
by
Lawrence W. Sherman, Denise Gottfredson, Doris MacKenzie, John Eck, 
Peter Reuter, and Shawn Bushway
in collaboration with members of the Graduate Program
Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice
University of Maryland

http://www.ncjrs.gov/works/chapter8.htm


WE are who we have been waiting for.
http://riverdalepark.blogspot.com/

WE are who we have been waiting for.
http://riverdalepark.blogspot.com/