NCJ Number
70136
Date Published
1980
Length
38 pages
Annotation
The evaluation assesses three components of the Community Anti-Crime Program: grantee characteristics, citizen participation in program development and implementation, and implementation activities.
Abstract
Established by an amendment to the Crime Control Act of 1976, the Community Anti-Crime Program (CACP) was mandated to provide technical assistance and other services to community groups emphasizing citizen participation in law enforcement activities. Data for the evaluation report are drawn from grantees' applications, from a mail survey sent to all 141 grantees, and from site visits to 36 projects. An examination of the distribution of grantees reveals that CAC cities in general have worse property and violent crime rates than in the Nation as a whole, and that most projects have either a history of community organizing or an active crime prevention unit in the police department, but less than one-fourth have both. Also, many CAC projects are located in communities facing multiple socioeconomic and crime problems. Considerable variation in the roles of citizens and community boards is noted in both the visited sites and in the survey data. For most projects, citizens were involved in program planning, the community board took an active role in program development and management, and citizens were recruited to aid implementation of project activities. Assessment of activities shows the majority focused on opportunity reduction strategies. Although most project activities are functioning, no measure is yet available on their impact. A total of 18 tables are included.