NCJ Number
210351
Date Published
January 2004
Length
66 pages
Annotation
This final report describes a problem-oriented policing project undertaken by the Savannah Police Department on the problem of burglaries of single-family homes in the city.
Abstract
The project, supported by funding from the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), was designed to apply the information from selected Problem-Oriented Guides for Police (POP Guide) to actual crime and disorder problems, in this case, the burglary of single-family homes in Savannah. The project took place from September 2000 to January 2003 and after careful selection of the target problem (burglary of single family homes) by the department through a survey of SPD employees, the corresponding POP Guides were distributed to project members. Data analysis on the problem of single-family home burglaries included reviewing case files; conducting environmental surveys of burglary sites and random selected houses in the target area; reviewing incident data and maps; and interviewing or surveying police, offenders, victims, and citizens. The main findings of the problem analysis were: (1) there was a close association between daytime burglary and truancy; (2) there was a high rate of repeat and underreported revictimization; (3) burglary victims heeded crime prevention advice offered by police; (4) little was known about the stolen property market; (5) communication was sparse among law enforcement officers; and (6) better supervision of repeat offenders would reduce the burglary rate. Next, the POP Guides were used to develop and implement prevention strategies, which in this case included improving the preliminary investigation process and improving truancy prevention, among others. While the problem-oriented approach was applied effectively, implementation was sparse during the project period and, thus, unable to be evaluated. Appendixes