Boston's Comprehensive Communities Program: A Case Study, 2004

• NCJ Number: 204680
• Author(s): George Kelling Ph.D.; Ann Marie Rocheleau M.A.
• Date Published: January 2004
• Length: 66 pages
• Grant Number(s): 1998-IJ-CX-0053
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation

Annotation

This document provides a background on Boston’s Comprehensive Communities Program (CCP).

Abstract

The CCP played a pivotal part in Boston’s achievements on several successful initiatives. The most notable achievement was funding an unusually intensive planning process that brought together the Boston Police Department (BPD), community leaders, citizens, criminal justice agencies, and social service providers in each of Boston’s police districts over an extended period of time. During this time, neighborhood problems were identified and tactics were developed to solve them. This planning process laid the groundwork for an ongoing accountability process in each of the districts. To achieve these goals, long-standing suspicion and antagonisms among participants had to be overcome and/or managed. These problems were overcome in large part by the self-consciousness of the BPD and its willingness to learn from its experiences and attempt to find new ways of solving problems, whether neighborhood or program administration problems. This case study of Boston’s CCP program was written as a result of site visits made to various CCP programs and interviews with CCP participants between September 1995, and April 1997. It incorporates data from the CCP Coalition Survey and Community Policing Survey, as well as information contained in Federal and local documents and reports. Follow-up phone calls were made during December 1997, and January 1998, to key participants in order to write the epilogue. The experiences of Boston in the planning and implementation of the CCP program components emphasized lessons learned from other program evaluations. Programs that have key charismatic and enthusiastic leaders, sufficient resources, widespread support, and open channels of communication among participating parties will succeed. Appendix