NCJ Number
160054
Date Published
1991
Length
200 pages
Annotation
Four demonstration programs that began in 1986 and focused on the systems approach to community crime prevention and drug prevention were evaluated.
Abstract
The programs were funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance of the United States Department of Justice. They used a law-enforcement based process of designing and implementing crime prevention strategies that emphasized community-based partnerships as the central component in reducing fear of crime, victimization, drug abuse, and drug-related crime. The systems approach evolved in three phases in the four sites: Jacksonville, Fla., Knoxville, Tenn., New Haven, Conn., and Tucson, Ariz. The Phase I evaluation focused primarily on the documentation of processes. It used site visits, interviews, reviews of program materials, and surveys of police personnel. The Phase II and III combined evaluation was primarily a process evaluation that focused on describing the central program activities. Three focused impact evaluations of specific interventions were also conducted. Results revealed diversity in the systems approach among the four sites. No single police agency represented an exemplary program, although each program had elements that could be put forth as a model systems approach for other agencies to consider using. Findings also indicated that a comprehensive, computerized data system seems essential to the systems approach, that police agencies address support capabilities necessary for systematic planning and analysis, and that a needs assessment process be the minimum starting point for a systems approach for specific target neighborhoods. Additional recommendations, profiles of the four sites, tables, forms, and 12 references