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Police Perceptions of Crime Prevention Effectiveness - Final Report

NCJ Number
82341
Date Published
1980
Length
50 pages
Annotation
Findings are presented from a survey of police officers in the third and fifth Minneapolis police precints to determine their attitudes toward crime prevention in general and their experiences with the Minneapolis Community Crime Prevention program in particular.
Abstract
Of the 224 sworn personnel in the two precincts, 73 responded (41 from the third and 32 from the fifth). Of these, 90.3 percent were patrol officers; 8.3 percent were sergeants; and 1.4 percent were lieutenants. Seventy-three percent of the respondents had attended a Community Crime Prevention block meeting, and 94 percent of the responding officers believed the program had helped increase citizen involvement in crime prevention and reporting. Eighty-six percent considered that the crime prevention program had helped reduce the opportuntiy for residential burglary. The majority of officers perceived that areas of the city which had received service from Community Crime Prevention had more suspicious-activity calls, more physical security improvements, more crime-in-progress calls, and more positive police contacts with residents than did areas not receiving program services. Overall, survey results suggest police confidence in the value of the crime prevention program. The questionnnaire is included, and summary responses to each question are provided.