NCJ Number
230760
Date Published
January 2010
Length
97 pages
Annotation
This publication from the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, U.S. Department of Justice, provides strategies to the police on reducing the fear of crime among citizens and communities.
Abstract
Fear of crime has a corrosive effect not only on individuals but on entire communities because it can negatively affect all aspects of the quality of life for America's communities. This publication identifies and presents promising practices to directly address the feat of crime. During the 1980s, fear of crime was identified as one of the top police priorities in the United States and helped spur the development of community policing. This publication is divided into five sections and presents information about the phenomenon of fear of crime along with historical and contemporary law enforcement efforts to reduce the fear. The introduction provides a list of interrelated assumptions about fear of crime and why it matters to successful law enforcement efforts. The five main sections cover: Why Target Fear; Police Strategies for Reducing Fear; Tools for Targeting Fear; Tools for Reducing Fear; and Tools for Sustaining Fear Reduction. Three appendixes include a copy of the national survey instrument, the COPE (Citizen Oriented Police Enforcement) Community Survey, and the COPE Interview Guide. Figures and references