04 building communities

Building Communities

CJS 380 Crime Science:Principles, Strategies and Practice of

Crime Prevention and Reduction©

J.A. Gilmer

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Approaches to Community Level Crime Prevention and Reduction

1. Build/Strengthen Communities– Renew the economic base– Cultivate cohesion and collective efficacy

2. Harden Targets– Increase risks and reduce rewards– Design against crime

3. Enhance Enforcement– Problem-orientation– Anticipatory policing (predictive & hotspot)

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Chicago Area Project – CAP• Founded 1934 as 1st modern

JD prevention project• Focus on neighborhood– Indigenous community leaders

& ‘detached workers’– Positive adult role models– Structured vocational and

recreational activities– Problem-solving techniques

• Failed to reduce rates of JD• Succeeded as community-

based strategy

http://www.chicagoareaproject.org/programs/dept

“Chicago Area Project

Revisited”

click on for article

In Weis, Crutchfield &

Bridges (2001) Juvenile

Delinquency: Readings

RAND Study (1983)

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THE ROLE OF REDEVELOPMENT AND RENEWAL

BUILDING COMMUNITY

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Community Renewal Programs

“…$11 billion to eligible businesses of all sizes in Empowerment Zones and Renewal Communities. These incentives encourage businesses to open, expand, and to hire local residents. The incentives include employment credits, a 0% tax on capital gains, increased tax deductions on equipment, accelerated real property depreciation, and other incentives.”

US Dept of Housing and Urban Development

www.hud.gov/offices/cpd/economicdevelopment/programs/rc

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Enterprise Zones/Renewal Communities

• Focus on economic development, social services and community improvement

• Help individuals and neighborhoods through incentivized, targeted demand-side policies– Investment incentives: tax credits (property, franchise,

sales, investment taxes and employer taxes)– Labor incentives: tax credit for job creation, hiring the

disadvantaged, providing training– Finance incentives: investment fund, federal bond

program

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Do EZ/RCs Work?

• Job relocation vs. job development• Mixed results from research in US• Analysis of New Job Creation

• Crime reduction “promising” if part of design

25%

25%50%

New BusinessesRelocated JobsExpansion of Existing

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How Does Unemployment Affect Crime?The central argument is simple enough …. Crime and unemployment are most

strongly linked at the community level, at least in urban areas. Persistently very high unemployment rates will generate high crime; that high crime will drive out capital and make jobs increasingly remote. That produces a downward spiral to a low employment/high crime equilibrium which is very stable and highly resistant to small increases in employment or reductions in crime….

The most important mediating factor … may be the motivations of community residents. For example, the isolation of high poverty neighborhoods from the legitimate job market may be critical in accounting for the lack of motivation among youth in these neighborhoods. …(Y)outh have difficulty finding employment when they live in impoverished neighborhoods without well-developed job connections. That is exacerbated by geographic isolation from jobs and the possibility of racial discrimination. The perceived returns to continuing in school or in acquiring human capital in other ways is low. This leads to low high school graduation rates and high attrition in training programs, maintaining the under investment in human capital of the previous generation in high poverty neighborhoods. Source: Bushway, S and P. Reuter “Labor Markets and Crime Risk Factors.”

In Sherman, et. al (1997) Preventing Crime: What Work, What Doesn’t, What’s Promising

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EZ/RC Map of Schenectady Renewal Community

http://egis.hud.gov/ezrclocator/

The Schenectady RC is composed of three census tracts in the center of the City. Through its Course of Action, the Schenectady RC will focus on certain key strategies: Reduction of Tax Rates and Fees applying within the RC; Improving Local Services such as establishing a new holistic health center; expansion of Head Start classes and pre-employment training for local youth; and Crime Reduction Strategies such as a Community Policing Program and a Zero Tolerance program for Identified troubled neighborhoods.

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POLICE, COMMUNITY AND THE CO-PRODUCTION OF PUBLIC SAFETY

BUILDING COMMUNITY

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Community Policing and Reducing Crime

• Developed out of a reaction in the 1960s/70s to the “professional model” and a national crisis of legitimacy in police-community relations– Discretion to “solve problems” vs. impartial

neutrality

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Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experiment

• Increased police presence not effective in reducing crime– No impact on crime volume– No decrease in fear of crime

• Faster response time does not reduce crime– No difference in response-

related arrests after 9 min• Random patrols do not

reduce crime

George Kelling

Link to Kansas City Preventive Patrol Summary Report

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“Broken Windows” Theory• Crime and disorder linked

in neighborhoods– Unrepaired signs of physical

disorder signal that “no one cares”

– Leads to deterioration of order in community

– Lack of informal social control allows crime to become more prevalent

– Difficult to reverse once urban decay begins

George KellingJames Q Wilson

Wilson, J.Q and G. Kelling (1982) “Broken Windows: the Police and Neighborhood Safety” Atlantic Monthly.

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Fear of Crime and Disorganization• Forms of disorder both human

and physical• Social and physical incivilities

inspire fear• Feel more susceptible to

victimization; police can’t help• Fear reduces “spatial radius”– Leaves pockets w/o guardianship

• Response requires police-community partnership

Wesley Skogan

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How Fear of Crime Works to Change Neighborhoods…neighborhoods change only slowly unless ‘triggering’ events shift them from positions of relative stability into one of demographic and economic flux…. Once areas begin to decline ‘feedback’ processes can take command of neighborhood conditions. Problems such as crime, physical deterioration, and social disorder emerge. Resulting increases in fear of crime in turn undermine the capacity of the community to deal with its problems. Fear stimulates withdrawal from the community, weakens informal social control mechanisms, contributes to the declining mobilization capacity of the neighborhood, speeds changes in local business conditions, and stimulates further delinquency and disorder. These problems feed on themselves, spiraling neighborhoods deeper into decline…. (I)n the aggregate the effect of fear on the fabric of American society has been very consequential.” (pp. 203-04)

Skogan, Wesley, "Fear of Crime and Neighborhood Change," in Albert J. Reiss and Michael Tonry (eds), Communities and Crime. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986, 203-229.

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Components of Community Policing

• Active partnership between police and citizens• Solve community problems related to crime and

quality of life• Community input into setting police priorities• Shift focus from handling call to solving problems• Decentralized service delivery to establish

geographic responsibility in community• Proactive prevention of crime and disorder

See also: COPS Office. Community Policing Defined

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Problem-Solving through SARA• Scanning – identify and prioritize specific

problems of crime or disorder in neighborhood

• Analysis – develop a systematic understanding of the underlying causes of identified problems

• Response – develop innovative solutions unique to neighborhood and implement for the long term reduction

• Assessment – evaluate outcomes of the response

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Status of Community Policing• COPS Office established in 1994– $11+ billion in programs over 13,000 departments

Link to COPS History

Citizens Police LE AgenciesPolice-community meetings Hold regular comm. meetings Fixed beat/area assgts

Neighborhood watch Interagency problem-solving involvement

Classify/prioritize calls

Help police ID/resolve problems

Youth programs Recognize good CP work

Volunteer at PD Victim assistance programs GIS-based crime analysis

Citizen Police-Academies Use regulatory codes/code enforcement in problem-solving

Permanent neighborhood based offices

Lersch (2007) , p 151.

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A Comparison of Policing Strategies

Cordner, G. and Biebel, E. P. “Problem-Oriented Policing in Practice Criminology and Public Policy 4(2): 155-190

Gary Cordner

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Ten Things You Can Do to Undermine Community Policing

1. OVERSELL IT2. DON’T BE SPECIFIC3. CREATE A SPECIAL UNIT OR GROUP4. CREATE A SOFT IMAGE5. LEAVE THE IMPRESSION THAT IT’S ONLY FOR MINORITY

NEIGHBORHOODS6. DIVORCE COMMUNITY POLICING OFFICER FROM "REGULAR"

POLICE WORK7. OBFUSCATE MEAN AND ENDS8. PRESENT COMMUNITY MEMBERS WITH PROBLEMS AND PLANS9. NEVER TRY TO UNDERSTAND WHY PROBLEMS OCCUR10. NEVER PUBLICIZE A SUCCESS

John Eck

Eck, John, “Helpful Hints for the Tradition Bound Chief” PERF, June 1992

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Issues in Implementing CP

• Wide variation – no conformity to “prototype”• Idiosyncratic definitions of “problem-solving”– ‘Drive around until suspect seen’…?

• Different models within single agency• Difficult for police organizations to change

ways of doing business• Tough to replace the traditional “performance

measures” of success (felony arrests)

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Zero Tolerance Policing

• a/k/a ‘Quality of Life’ Policing• Reaction to community policing• Aggressive enforcement against minor law

violations– Make arrest/issue citation with little discretion

• Use official social control & formal justice system to regain control of neighborhoods– Reduces fear of crime and fosters community control

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Summary of Theory

• Social disorganization reduces effectiveness of social norms (Shaw and McKay)

• Collective efficacy – social cohesion + willingness to intervene – insulates communities against social disorganization (Sampson, Raudenbush and Earls)

• Social bond increases conformity, especially at family level and routine interactions (Hirschi, Felson)

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Summary of Implication

• Improve neighborhood cohesion• Enhance informal social control• Renew sense of order by reducing visible signs

of disorder (human and physical)• Reduce fear of crime• Improve quality of life for neighborhood

residents

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Impediments to Community Building

• ‘Sense of community’ important– May not be strong enough in communities most in

need• Participation varies across groups– Class, marital status, residential stability, age

• Success depends on organizational support– Strained police-community relations puts law

enforcement partnership at disadvantage• Addressing the ‘real’ problems?– Poverty, mixed land use, residential instability