NCJ Number
85552
Date Published
Unknown
Length
88 pages
Annotation
The use of block clubs and a security hardware subsidy had little effect on burglary rates and residents' sense of the crime problem in a Minneapolis, Minn., neighborhood.
Abstract
A crime prevention program was part of an overall effort to revitalize the Whittier neighborhood of Minneapolis, a neighborhood on the verge of radical deterioration. The crime prevention effort included the formation of block clubs whose meetings are intended to serve as forums for residents to converse with police and learn about the security hardware subsidy, Operation ID, and other crime prevention techniques available through the program. The security hardware subsidy offers a subsidy for the cost of security improvements to owners of 1-4 unit residential structures. Participation is preceded by a premise security check, after which specific security improvements are recommended. Resident surveys conducted at the beginning of the program and 2 years later show that at the end of the 2 years more residents felt that crime in the neighborhood was on the increase. At the beginning of the program residents pinpointed residential burglary as the primary crime problem, and after 2 years of the program no relief in the burglary problem was generally perceived. Crime statistics tend to support these perceptions. Poor attendance at block club meetings, particularly by apartment dwellers, may have obstructed information efforts. The limitation of the security hardware subsidy program to smaller structures also failed to deal with the two-thirds of the burglaries that occur in apartment buildings. The survey instrument is appended.