NCJ Number
153481
Date Published
1995
Length
42 pages
Annotation
Based on a literature review and the views of current police officers in the United Kingdom, this report discusses possible ways to measure performance in crime prevention efforts.
Abstract
Current and possible performance indicators include the number of neighborhood watch programs per 1,000 households, crime rates, numbers of crime prevention surveys, cost-benefit calculations, and surveys of victimization and other issues. Repeat victimization is currently the most plausible major national performance indicator, although it has both advantages and disadvantages. Before it could be fully implemented as a performance indicator, changes would be needed in the way police record incidents to allow victims to be uniquely identified and to permit automated computation of repeat victimization patterns. Individual police forces will need to tailor their performance indicators to their own goals and programs and will probably use a variety of methods of data collection, many of which would not be appropriate for a national performance indicator. Tables, footnotes, appended methodological information, and 20 references