NCJ Number
179980
Date Published
1998
Length
255 pages
Annotation
This evaluation of Philadelphia's 11th Street Corridor Program suggests that creating "police ownership" for public housing communities by maintaining a high level of police presence in these communities can affect what the police do in these communities and how frequently they interact with community members.
Abstract
In the 11th Street Corridor Program, such permanent assignment of police to the treatment sites did increase police officer proactive police activity, while increasing police willingness to work with and support community crime prevention activities. Police officer job satisfaction was also enhanced through this effort, at least for those officers working in the communities of the 11th Street Corridor. From the perspective of the community, this study suggests that residents can detect police activity and are more willing to work with the police when they have a structure for such interaction. Moreover, the survey of community residents suggests that community perceptions of problems may actually decline in the face of a more visible police presence, even when the reporting of crime does not appear to follow a similar decline. Study results are encouraging to the extent that they suggest that it is possible to structure viable partnerships between the police and the community within public housing contexts. These partnerships, however, require a significant contribution from the police, the community, and especially from the public housing authority. 39 figures, 119 references, and appended research instruments
Date Published: January 1, 1998