Reducing Fear of Crime in Houston and Newark - A Summary Report

• NCJ Number: 100128
• Author(s): A M Pate; M A Wycoff; W G Skogan; L W Sherman
• Date Published: 1986
• Length: 61 pages
• Grant Number(s): 83-IJ-CX-0003
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)

Annotation

This report summarizes experiments conducted by the police departments of Houston, Tex., and Newark, N.J., in 1983 and 1984 to test several methods, including neighborhood police stations and community organizing, intended to reduce fear, improve neighborhoods, and increase popular satisfaction with police services.

Abstract

The report highlights the planning process, programs implemented by the two departments, resources required, and program evaluation techniques and results. Both cities tested a police community newsletter, a police-community multiservice center, and officer contacts with residents to determine what the public considered to be local problems. Additional Houston programs included telephone contacts with victims and efforts to create a neighborhood organization. Newark implemented programs to reduce social disorder and physical deterioration and increase the quality and quantity of police-citizen contacts. The evaluation concluded that door-to-door contact, community organizing, and police storefront operations could reduce the physical and psychological distance between police and the neighborhood. It also suggested that officers recruited for fear-reduction strategies be screened to ensure that they are community-service oriented, adaptable to changing conditions, and self-motivated. Charts and 18 references.