Community-Policing Strategy: Houston Fear Reduction Task Force
Axios
Policing
Problems addressed
Fear of crime and/or sensation of insecurity
Crime and delinquency (multiple types)
Effectiveness

No Effect

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No Effect

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Life periods served
People of all ages
Where the program was applied
Community (streets or community centers)
Country of application
United States
Description

This is a community policing strategy in which an informative newspaper is provided on crime and police activity in the neighborhood. The goal is to increase residents' awareness of high crime areas without increasing fear of crime, and instead to increase the deployment of home security resources and public satisfaction.

The news stories included information about police landmarks and success stories about criminal cases (crimes prevented and solved). Two versions of newspapers were tested: one with statistical data on local crime that occurred during the month and the other without such data.

Impact evaluations

An impact evaluation evidenced that residents who received the bulletins, regardless of the inclusion of crime statistics, perceived a significantly greater increase in crime in their residential areas and expressed greater concern about being victims of crimes against their property than those who did not receive the bulletins [1].

The authors suggest that the community policing newsletters, although successfully implemented for 6 months, generally did not achieve the desired results [1].

Bibliographic reference

[1] Pate, A., Lavrakas, P. J., Skogan, W. G., Wycoff, M. A., & Sherman, L. W. (1985). Neighborhood Police Newsletters: Experiments in Newark and Houston; Executive Summary. Washington, DC: Police Foundation. http://link.sandiego.edu/portal/Neighborhood-police-newsletters--experi…

Information source