NCJ Number
197443
Date Published
2002
Length
96 pages
Annotation
This guide is intended to provide guidance that will facilitate the process of police agencies engaging private-sector businesses as partners in providing security for the community.
Abstract
Readers are taken through a series of strategies that provide insight into the development of public/private partnerships. Although the guide advises that there is no one formula for engaging businesses as community-policing partners, there are some guiding general principles. One of these principles is to focus on outcomes. Some of the desired outcomes of cultivating police-business partnerships are the discovery of the assets in the community, the development of the potential of business-sector partners to take a leadership role in addressing issues of crime and disorder, identification of the opportunities for enhancing public safety, and finding ways to build investment in the community. A second principle is to work toward common interests. In following this principle, it is important to determine where public-safety interests coincide with individual business interests. An example presented is a coalition in Columbus, Ohio, established to develop a workplace response to family violence. A third general principle is the cultivation of a positive working relationship. This principle recognizes that it sometimes takes some initial effort by law enforcement agencies before businesses can become aware of their potential contribution to public safety and then take action. After outlining some general principles for strategies in law enforcement/business cooperation, some partnership success stories from across the country are described. Some examples of partnership programs are cooperation between police and business leaders in improving security to counter crimes against businesses, the use of business resources to establish a police substation in a mall to address crime that was hurting mall business, a partnership to target the theft of laptop computers from area businesses, and a partnership between police and the owners of multifamily housing facilities to reduce crime in these facilities. Extensive annotated resources are listed.