NCJ Number
192390
Date Published
August 1997
Length
89 pages
Annotation
This manual provides practical tactics to address specific problems affecting the quality of life in neighborhoods across the country.
Abstract
Some strategies and tactics in dealing with open-air drug markets are broadcasting community intolerance for drug activity, denying drug dealers access to marketing space, and eliminating drug dealers' and buyers' sense of impunity. For crime and drug dealing in housing developments, the neighborhood must establish positive relationships with the owner, get results when negotiations fail, establish relationships with the residents, develop a plan to change physical conditions, encourage changes in management, and work with the police on crime prevention strategies. With crack houses and other indoor drug markets, efforts include anti-drug marches and vigils, drug nuisance abatement, and evictions to fight drug dealing in apartment buildings. Three strategies to use for trespassers is to deny access to the building, work with police, and deal with residents who shelter trespassers. Among the strategies to deal with youth and gangs are taking collective action to reclaim public spaces, improving school safety and security, and providing youth with positive alternatives. For graffiti, the neighborhood must take direct action to remove graffiti, hold graffiti vandals accountable, and divert graffiti criminals to positive alternatives. Street prostitution strategies are to communicate community disapproval, limit access to markets, and eliminate the sense of impunity of prostitutes and their patrons. Strategies and tactics for working with police are to take responsibility for a disorder in the neighborhood, learn how the police are implementing community policing, and work with the police on a collaborative strategy to reduce disorder. In working with courts and prosecutors, the neighborhood must influence the courts and prosecutors, use the probation and parole system, and encourage courts and judges to adopt new approaches and programs. References, endnotes