NCJ Number
91053
Date Published
1983
Length
19 pages
Annotation
Police should direct their resources to watching for potential offenders, should spend more time on foot talking to citizens, and should guide volunteer watching efforts.
Abstract
Watching is more controversial than taking physical security measures or making behavioral adjustments to avoid criminal attacks, because it requires the largest amount of public financing and an increasing share of private resources. However, research shows that a more focused and goal-directed set of watching tactics would be more effective than the current tendency to wait for something to happen and to respond to calls regardless of their relative urgency. Police should spend more time on foot talking to citizens and should do more to stimulate and guide volunteer watching efforts. They should focus special attention on repeat offenders and on illegal gun-carrying by refusing to handle certain kinds of requests, regardless of the political outcry that might occur. Systems of screening telephone calls to determine the nature of the caller's problem and the appropriate response would also be helpful. Field experiments of public and private watching efforts should also be conducted as the basis of policy choices among different strategies.