NCJ Number
99256
Date Published
1985
Length
8 pages
Annotation
Empirical studies indicate that victim-witness information is crucial in solving crimes; police can improve access to this information by involving patrol officers in investigations, increasing foot patrols, and conducting information campaigns on citizen cooperation with the police.
Abstract
The INSLAW 'supercops' study (Forst, Lucianovic, and Cox, 1977) found that the Washington, D.C., officers with the consistently highest number of felony arrests were attentive to gaining information from victims and witnesses and maintaining contact with them up through the trial. The National Crime Survey (NCS) has found that victims of personal crimes (characterized by confrontation with the offender) know a great deal about the offender; crime victims also reported the presence of witnesses in a significant percentage of personal crimes. Increasing police access to victim-witness crime information could be accomplished by giving patrol officers responding to the crime report a more significant role in the followup interviewing of victims and witnesses and using public information campaigns to encourage citizens to report crimes and provide crime information. Three notes are provided.