NCJ Number
188998
Journal
Journal of Police and Criminal Psychology Volume: 15 Issue: 2 Dated: Fall 2000 Pages: 52-63
Date Published
2000
Length
12 pages
Annotation
This article reports on a study designed to help police in a small northeastern Pennsylvania town identify crime "hot spots" so they could develop appropriate interventions that would reduce both actual crime rates and the fear of crime.
Abstract
A total of 337 respondents completed a survey that included 29 questions on community policing, Neighborhood Watch programs, fear of crime, and the quality of police services. This article focuses on the citizens' perceptions of the quality of police services. The study found that although citizens generally evaluated police favorably, a high percentage of "don't know" responses suggest that citizens were not prepared to evaluate all aspects of police services. Furthermore, police evaluator observation revealed that police services were inadequate, both within the organization of the department and the patrol practices. Some questions, not traditionally included in police evaluation surveys, revealed high levels of fear among citizens. These inconsistencies in responses lead to a questioning of the exclusive use of citizen surveys for the evaluation of police performance. An effort to combine quantitative and qualitative measures may better capture relevant information on the quality of police services. 2 tables and 26 references