POLICE STRATEGIES TO REDUCE CITIZEN FEAR OF CRIME

The research summarized here demonstrates that there are strategies police can use to reduce levels of perceived crime and disorder, reduce attendant fear, heighten satisfaction with police services and neighborhoods and, in some cases, reduce crime itself.

While crime is a major problem in many cities, citizen fear of crime often exceeds the actual risk of being victimized. This fear produces a fortress mentality among residents. It makes citizens suspicious of one another and erodes the sense of community upon which neighborhood life depends. Ultimately, it can result in urban decay and flight from our cities.

Police departments have often tried to reduce citizen fear of crime by minimizing the amount of reported crime. They have frequently acted on the assumption that concerted efforts to solve crime and arrest criminals would reduce unwarranted fears. Some fear-reduction strategies have been tried over the years, but they were never rigorously tested. No one could say for certain which strategies were successful and which were a waste of police time and the taxpayer’s money.

THE EXPERIMENT
In 1982, the National Institute of Justice awarded the Police Foundation a grant to conduct the first empirical study of strategies to reduce citizen fear of crime, improve the quality of neighborhood life, and increase citizen satisfaction with police services.

Newark and Houston were selected for the one-year study because both cities were experiencing increasing demand for police services in the face of limited or reduced police resources. In Newark, a shrinking tax base and agency cutbacks were stretching police resources to the limit. In Houston, rapid growth in the early 1980s was having the same effect.

In the Police Foundation experiment, police departments in the two cities used locally developed strategies that did not require special funding. The Newark program stressed the exchange of quality information between police and citizens, and it addressed signs of social disorder and physical deterioration in selected neighborhoods. The program included:

• door-to-door visits;
• a community newsletter;
• a neighborhood community service center; and
• foot patrol, bus checks and other enforcement efforts to reduce visible "signs of crime."

Houston wanted to foster a sense that police officers were available to citizens and concerned about neighborhood problems. Citizen involvement with the police and participation in community affairs were encouraged. Houston’s program included:

• a police-community newsletter;
• victim recontact by police;
• a community storefront office;
• direct interaction between citizens and police officers on their beats; and
• police efforts to create a neighborhood organization that would involve citizens in solving local problems.

The Police Foundation interviewed residents to evaluate the victim recontact program, the community newsletters, and the other area-wide strategies. Three evaluation mechanisms were then used to assess the effectiveness and impact of these strategies.

THE RESULTS
In general, Houston’s victim recontact effort, Newark’s "signs of crime" program, and the two community newsletters did not influence citizen attitudes, but the study clearly indicated that police-citizen interaction was an effective strategy. Citizens and police officers treated one another with respect and trust. Citizens became involved in neighborhood crime reduction efforts. Police officers regularly listened to citizens and acted on their advice. Citizens became less fearful of crime, and their satisfaction with police services increased.
The study clearly demonstrated that:

• police work is facilitated when officers are communicative and responsive to members of the community; and
• strategies involving citizens had significant, positive effects on the attitudes of neighborhood residents about crime and satisfaction with police services.

In sum, research shows that if police officers work harder at talking and listening to citizens, they can reduce citizen fear of crime and, in some cases, reduce crime itself. And importantly, police departments can initiate these strategies without increasing their budgets.

FUTURE OF FEAR REDUCTION
For police researchers, this first empirical study of police efforts to reduce fear of crime demonstrated that such programs can be successfully carried out. It also identified the need for more research to determine:

• if longer running programs would achieve more significant, longer lasting results;
• why programs were less successful among Black and Hispanic residents;
• whether certain elements of the unsuccessful strategies (community newsletter, "signs of crime," victim recontact) could be changed to make them successful; and
• if even better results could be achieved by combining program elements that were tested separately.

For police departments, the experiment demonstrated that fear reduction programs can be successfully undertaken even while further research is being conducted. It also suggests that:

• every opportunity should be taken to increase the quantity and quality of police interaction with citizens;
• the police should initiate these interactions;
• police should become good listeners;
• police should develop strategies to solve problems identified by citizens;
• citizens must be actively involved in these community crime-reduction strategies; and
• police officers and supervisors must be allowed to try new approaches and fail; without this support, officers will not innovate or take risks.