NCJ Number
102689
Date Published
1985
Length
241 pages
Annotation
This report describes the program activities and evaluation of the Houston Police Department's (Texas) Citizen Contact Patrol Program, which involved structured police interviews with citizens to increase police responsiveness to citizen concerns.
Abstract
After discussing citizens' perceptions of neighborhood problems, officers left their business cards to encourage ongoing contact with the officer. The same officers who conducted the personal interviews were visible to citizens in neighborhood beat duties. In the 8 months of the project, officers contacted approximately 37 percent of the housing units in the neighborhood and 45 percent of the nonresidential establishments. The evaluation compared citizen attitudes and reported behaviors measured before and 10 months after the program's introduction (the summer of 1983 and again in the summer of 1984). Interviews were conducted with random samples of residents and representatives of nonresidential establishments in both a program area and a matched nonprogram area. The program area achieved a 70.6-percent response rate for a sample of 543, and the control area had a 53-percent response rate for a sample of 389. The program reduced the fear of personal victimization, the perception that personal and property crimes were major neighborhood problems, and the perception of social disorder in the neighborhood. Satisfaction with the neighborhood and with police services increased. Tabular data, questionnaire, and 6 references.