Some good reasons to plan are to bring problems into manageable focus, identify and surmount obstacles, and to show progress. Planning is the activity which results in an organized approach toward a desired future outcome or result. The basic ingredients required for creating a community-based action plan include a problem that needs solving, people who want to work to solve the problem, and a process that develops a plan with multiple tasks and goals. Six principles can help ensure that the planning process is smooth and contributes to a smooth-running program: process, agenda, vision, expectations, and reality. Planning for crime prevention has its unique features which have to do more with crime prevention than planning, and putting the planning principles into action means dealing with special crime prevention issues such as the fear and behavior of citizens in the community. One way to reach through this fear and behavior is to survey the field to find out community reactions, functions, and other useful information.