Reducing community fear of Crime

Reducing community fear of crime requires, among other things, an active police force. The police must be willing to patrol the streets and focus on improving the quality of neighborhood life. Residents who are afraid to sit on their front porches have lost control of their neighborhoods. Police departments like New York City's are helping to restore control by using a concept known as community policing.

People tend to fear crime less when they have freedom of movement within their communities. An example is Maria Hernandez Park in the heart of Brooklyn's Bushwick neighborhood. The park was named for a woman who are accidentally shot by drug dealers who once controlled the area, turning it into an open-air market for the selling of heroin, crack, and cocaine. Now the park is filled with elderly residents, young mothers, and children. The difference is the decision by the New York City Police Department to locate one of its substations in the park. The substation is just a trailer, but it makes potential criminals aware that the police are always nearby. As one Brooklyn resident put it, "There used to be all kinds of drugs, fights, robberies, everything around here. Everything is much quieter since they put that [police] trailer in" (Beiser, 1995, p. 39).

The trailer in Maria Hernandez Park is a part of a community policing program that has been quite successful in New York City. The program was started by New York Police Commissioner William Bratton. When

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of drinkers for minor infractions. This involves a pat-down search, which often comes up with illegal weapons. If the police continue these tactics, most of the neighborhood males start leaving their weapons at home, which means they are less likely to kill someone during a fight. As a community police officer explains, "You take care of the little things, and the big things take care of themselves" (Traub, 1997, p. 3). To be effective, community policing requires the involvement of the business community. In Manhattan, police are getting help from business-improvement districts (BIDs). These groups collect fees from businesses in the area and use the money for improved lighting, clean-up, and extra security services: "The extra lighting and hundreds of security guards have had a clear impact in formerly crime-plagued areas such as Times Square and Grand Central Station" (Beiser, 1995, p. 39). Since the BID program began in 1988, it has spread to much of midtown and downtown Manhattan. The residential community must also get involved in community policing. Neighborhood Watch programs, where residents report criminal activity to the police, are important, but so is the simple clean up of blighted areas. For instance, i

Category: Psychology - R