NCJ Number
188343
Journal
Crime Victims Report Volume: 5 Issue: 1 Dated: March/April 2001 Pages: 3,10,12
Date Published
March 2001
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This article describes a burglary prevention project.
Abstract
The Kirkholt Burglary Prevention Project was a demonstration project of the London Home Office Police Department Crime Prevention Unit. It focused on a neighborhood with 2,280 dwellings that had experienced nearly twice the rate of domestic burglaries as the rest of the country. The project focused on preventing repeat victimization as its primary crime prevention strategy. The program established the Cocoon Neighborhood Watch, where communities worked together to prevent the revictimization of a home and the spread of criminal activity. The community removed coin meters for electricity or gas, a self-identified target among burglars. Project workers took over from local law enforcement responsibility for conducting security surveys, identifying valuables, and establishing cocoons. Findings from the project included: (1) the burglary rate in the area fell to 40 percent of the pre-initiative level within 5 months of the project's start, and repeat victimizations fell to zero over the same period and did not exceed two in any month thereafter; (2) 64 percent of participants were as enthusiastic after 14.5 months of the project as they had been at the beginning and an additional 32 percent were more enthusiastic; (3) nearly 90 percent of participants thought things had either "improved" or were "much improved" as a result of the project; and (4) the project resulted in considerable cost savings.