This study investigates the impact of police foot patrols on crime reduction in the Oakland (California) central business district over the period 1990-1997. The problem investigated, study purpose, and study objectives are stated in this chapter. Background information on both the problem and the problem setting is provided in this chapter.
Casual observation indicates that the incidence of criminal behavior may be declining in Oakland. The Oakland Police Department implemented an expansive community policing initiative in the early- to mid-1990s. This community policing initiative included the use of foot patrols. Community policing efforts typically are credited with improvements in the trust relationships between citizens and police and higher levels of trust between citizens and police are believed to be associated with decreases in the incidence of criminal activity within a community. Thus, this research was motivated to investigate the links between the incidence of criminal activity and the community policing initiative in Oakland.
Criminal anti-social behavior in the United States at the beginning of the 1990s was shockingly high and increasing in frequency (Steffensmeier & Streifel, 1991). The rate of violent crime in the United States was at the beginning of the 1990s and remains the highest among all developed countries and is higher than that found in most developing countries. Until quite recently, violent crime had consistently increased in the United States at the rate of approximately five-percent per year. The levels of reported violent crimes decreased in 1996 and 1997. Further, the levels of such crime may have decreased in 1998, although final data for that year are not available at the time of this writing. Nevertheless, the absolute levels of criminal offending remain unacceptably high in the United States.
The incidence of reported criminal behavior within the jurisdiction of the City of Oak...