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Date: November 22, 2024 Fri

Time: 11:53 am

Results for public safety

68 results found

Author: Burd, Steffani A.

Title: The Impact of Information Security in Academic Institutions on Public Safety and Security: Assessing the Issues and Developing Solutions for Policy and Practice

Summary: From the abstract: "Academic institutions face a barrage of information security incidents such as data theft, malicious software infections, hacks into their computer networks, and infiltration of other entities via their networks. Adverse impacts of these incidents include compromised private data and intellectual property, substantial financial losses, and potential threats to critical infrastructure, public safety, and national security. Despite these issues, little research has been conducted at the policy, practical theoretical levels, and few policies and cost-effective controls have been developed. The purpose of this research study was to address the need for objective data and to develop a practical roadmap for policy and practice. Study design incorporated quantitative field survey, qualitative interview, and empirical network analysis methods."

Details: New York: Columbia University Teachers College, 2006

Source:

Year: 2006

Country: United States

URL:

Shelf Number: 115361

Keywords:
Cybersecurity
Public Safety

Author: Weisburd, David

Title: The Importance of Place in Policing: Empirical Evidence and Policy Recommendations

Summary: This monograph argues that the police can be more effective if they shift the primary concerns of policing from people to places. Such a shift is already underway in American policing where place has begun to be seen as an important focus of police crime prevention effort. But even in the U.S., people and not places remain the central concern of policing. Places in this context are specific locations within the larger social environments of communities and neighborhoods. They may be defined as buildings or addresses, block faces or street segments, or as clusters of addresses, block faces or street segments that have common crime problems. This report presents research which describes from both empirical and theoretical perspectives how the police can produce substantial crime prevention effects by directing their focus at small, well-defined locations with high levels of crime. The research findings presented in this report also strongly indicate that place-based policing of this kind can prevent crime using considerably less resources than more traditional policing methods.

Details: Stockholm: Brottsforebyggande radet (Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention), 2010. 69p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 25, 2010 at: http://www.bra.se/extra/measurepoint/?module_instance=4&name=The_importance_of_place_in_policing.pdf&url=/dynamaster/file_archive/100609/d4dd5dc1d51f6c3442a975a5f37d9ef3/The%255fimportance%255fof%255fplace%255fin%255fpolicing.pdf

Year: 2010

Country: United States

URL: http://www.bra.se/extra/measurepoint/?module_instance=4&name=The_importance_of_place_in_policing.pdf&url=/dynamaster/file_archive/100609/d4dd5dc1d51f6c3442a975a5f37d9ef3/The%255fimportance%255fof%255fplace%255fin%255fpolicing

Shelf Number: 119686

Keywords:
Crime Locations
Crime Prevention
Drug Trafficking
Maritime Crime (Gulf of Guinea; Africa)
Maritime Security
Organized Crime
Piracy
Policing
Public Safety
Public Spaces

Author: Mulmi, Rajendra

Title: Youth Perspectives on Security Sector Transformation in Nepal

Summary: Nepal is one of the countries characterized by a youth bulge and suffered a decade long armed conflict. Although youth (15-29 years of age) comprise a significant 30% of the overall population, their voices of have been largely excluded from arenas of debate and decision-making. The decade long armed conflict has adversely affected youth, compelling many to either join the insurgency or to flee from their communities. Youth were one of the most affected populations by the violence and insecurities during the insurgency. Even after the formal end of the Maoist's people's war, youth in Nepal still continues to be either used or victimized in many big and small violent movements such as those organized by Madhesis and ethnic groups and other criminal armed groups. In the era of rethinking security as a broader concept of human security, it is recognized that 'the narrative of human security should be grounded more firmly in the lived experience of people who are insecure'. Thus, it becomes imperative to understand youth perspectives on security transformation to reduce both the victimization and use of youth in violent conflicts. One of the very few research carried out with this purpose in Nepal is by International Alert and Friends for Peace (FFP) in 2007. The research carried out in two districts in Eastern Terai had an overarching aim to strengthen youth voices on community security needs and perspectives across different identity lines in the Eastern Terai. The research was a very good initiative in exploring youth perspective of community security but was exclusive to the concerns of the youth of Eastern Terai. Thus, there is still a need and a gap for an inclusive research to unveil the voices of youth from all segments of the society. This research aims to contribute to the ongoing debate and discourse related to the processes of the security sector transformation from a youth perspective. The research in particular explored youth perspectives to security and the security sector transformation by examining the following four key questions: 1. What is meant by security? How do young people understand security? 2. In what ways and how have the youth been affected by the (in)security issues? What are young people's perceptions of them being participants or victims of armed conflicts? 3. What role do various actors play in the public security sector? What role do youth play in public security? 4. How do youth think can the situation of violence and insecurity be transformed in the context of Nepal?

Details: Santiago, Chile: Global Consortium on Security Transformation, 2010. 25p.

Source: Internet Resource: New Voices Series, No. 7: Accessed November 2, 2010 at: http://www.securitytransformation.org/images/publicaciones/184_New_Voices_Series_7_-_Youth_Perspectives_on_Security_Sector_Transformation_in_Nepal.pdf

Year: 2010

Country: Nepal

URL: http://www.securitytransformation.org/images/publicaciones/184_New_Voices_Series_7_-_Youth_Perspectives_on_Security_Sector_Transformation_in_Nepal.pdf

Shelf Number: 120165

Keywords:
Gangs
Public Safety
Youth and Violence

Author: Citizen's Crime Commission of New York City

Title: Police and Public Safety in New York City

Summary: This study of police operations, crime and public safety in New York discusses recent trends in law enforcement including the increased importance of counter-terrorism police work in the post-Sept. 11 environment. It also includes the results of surveying work regarding public perceptions about neighborhood safety, police and police-community relations, and quality of life enforcement. These findings are presented both at the citywide level and also broken down by borough and ethnicity.

Details: New York: Citizens Crime Commission of New York City, 2004. 44p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed December 8, 2010 at: http://www.nycrimecommission.org/pdfs/1247.pdf

Year: 2004

Country: United States

URL: http://www.nycrimecommission.org/pdfs/1247.pdf

Shelf Number: 120417

Keywords:
Counter-Terrorism
Police-Community Relations
Policing (New York City)
Public Opinion
Public Safety

Author: Janetta, Jesse

Title: Promoting Partnerships between Police and Community Supervision Agencies: How Coordination Can Reduce Crime and Improve Public Safety

Summary: The past two decades have witnessed a period of revitalization for the field of law enforcement, marked by the emergence of a new paradigm of policing that embraces data-driven decision-making, emphasizes partnerships with the community, and underscores the belief that policing can be effective in making neighborhoods safer. During the same period, community supervision agencies have experienced a parallel shift in focus and philosophy, suggesting the potential for such agencies to enhance their role in improving public safety. The reenergizing of community supervision could not come at a more opportune time because it is needed to meet the challenges of the tremendous volume of people sentenced to probation or returning from prison. At any given time, 4.2 million adults are on probation supervision in the United States. Approximately 735,000 prisoners are released from state and federal prisons annually, and more than 500,000 are released to parole supervision. Adjudicated juveniles place an additional strain on community supervision agencies because approximately 42 percent of all petitioned cases result in an order of probation supervision. Moreover, 47,000 individuals (39,100 probationers and 7,900 parolees) were under community supervision in tribal areas in 2008, equaling a 7.9 percent increase from 2007. The potential impact that these supervisees have on public safety is undeniable: over two-thirds of released adult prisoners are arrested for a new crime within three years of release. While supervised populations may pose significant challenges for police and community supervision agencies, a partnership between the two can help them improve public safety. A community policing orientation, with a focus on building partnerships and engaging in problem-solving efforts to address crime, social disorder, and the fear of crime proactively, provides a strong foundation for collaboration between police and community supervision agencies. The two are allies and partners in the work of reintegrating parolees into their communities and managing probationers so that they refrain from criminal activity. Each agency can bring its skills, competencies, resources, and knowledge to a partnership. Police understand crime prevention and neighborhood dynamics; this knowledge can be valuable to community supervision agencies as they shift their focus toward preventing supervisees from committing a violation of their probation or parole conditions (as opposed to simply responding to violations once they occur). In turn, community supervision agencies know their supervisees, including the risks they present, potential triggers to reoffending, and interventions necessary to keep them in compliance. Building on the distinct strengths of both police and community supervision agencies, such partnerships can aid in the prevention of crime and enhance public safety. This guidebook is intended for all levels of police and community supervision personnel, as agency executives, supervisors, and line officers all have an opportunity to contribute to and benefit from partnering. The first section of this guidebook discusses why police and community supervision agencies should be interested in developing partnerships and what each partner can contribute to them. The second section discusses the key elements of partnership, specifically intelligence and information sharing, case planning and supporting behavior change, problem-solving approaches, targeted interventions for special populations, and focused deterrence efforts. Throughout the guidebook, examples of partnerships in the field are provided to offer tangible illustrations of how police/community supervision collaboration can be structured. While many of these examples focus on urban areas, the principles discussed throughout this guidebook are equally relevant for police and supervision agencies in rural areas where large agency boundaries can pose significant challenges for supervising probationers and parolees. These challenges only increase the need for interagency coordination and partnerships.

Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, 2011. 56p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 19, 2011 at: http://www.urban.org/uploadedpdf/412362-promoting-partnerships-police-community-supervision-agencies.pdf

Year: 2011

Country: United States

URL: http://www.urban.org/uploadedpdf/412362-promoting-partnerships-police-community-supervision-agencies.pdf

Shelf Number: 122113

Keywords:
Collaboration
Community Corrections (U.S.)
Community-Oriented Policing
Law Enforcement
Offender Supervision
Parolees
Prisoner Reentry
Probationers
Public Safety

Author: Solomon, Amy L.

Title: Putting Public Safety First: 13 Parole Supervision Strategies to Enhance Reentry Outcomes

Summary: In 2007, the Urban Institute convened two meetings with national experts on the topic of parole supervision. The goal of the meetings was to articulate participants’ collective best thinking on parole supervision, violation, and revocation practices and to identify policies and strategies that would help policymakers and practitioners improve public safety and make the best use of taxpayer dollars. This paper, the result of those meetings and a review of the research literature, describes 13 key strategies to enhance reentry outcomes along with examples from the field.

Details: Washington, DC: Justice Policy Center, The Urban Institute, 2008. 72p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed on January 28, 2012 at http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/411791_public_safety_first.pdf

Year: 2008

Country: United States

URL: http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/411791_public_safety_first.pdf

Shelf Number: 123851

Keywords:
Offender Supervision
Parole
Parole Supervision
Parolees
Prisoner Reentry
Public Safety

Author: Seattle, Washington Department of Neighborhoods

Title: Report on Mandatory Compliance Efforts in the Seattle Alcohol Impact Areas

Summary: Mandatory AIAs (Alcohol Impact Areas) that were established in Seattle in November 2006 continue to be an important element of the City’s efforts to address neighborhood public safety issues that are the result of chronic public inebriation. Building on the City of Seattle’s March 2008 Report on Mandatory Compliance Efforts, this progress report provides an analysis of the multiple strategies in place to decrease the effects of chronic public inebriation on the community at large, specifically communities within the Alcohol Impact Areas. This broader strategy was framed in the original 2006 request for establishing Seattle’s Mandatory AIAs. Quantitative data in the March report, required more analysis to better understand the effect of the AIAs. For this report we have delved deeper into the 2007 data and focused our analyses on criteria specific to AIA impact. An analysis of Police data from identical time frames premandatory AIA and post-mandatory AIA found a decrease in offenses related to chronic public inebriation: Adult Liquor Violations, Parks Exclusions, and Criminal Trespass. In addition, the sobering unit van also saw a 9% decrease in pick-ups over the same pre-mandatory AIA and post-mandatory AIA periods of time. Additionally, in this report we provide information on the possible connection between the mandatory AIA policy and the use of the Dutch Shisler Sobering Center, located in downtown Seattle, within the Central Core AIA. Over two identical periods of time pre-mandatory AIA and post-mandatory AIA, the Sobering Center admitted more inebriants during the period of mandatory AIA than prior to the mandatory AIA. Fewer Sobering Center visitors arrived by ESP van during the mandatory AIA than before the mandatory AIA and more visitors arrived at the Sobering Center on their own after the implementation of the mandatory AIA than prior to mandatory AIA. Although the use of the Sobering Center provides another method of decreasing the impacts of chronic public inebriation on the community at large, we realize it is not the solution.

Details: Seattle, WA: Department of Neighborhoods, City of Seattle, 2008. 32p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed on January 31, 2012 at http://www.seattle.gov/neighborhoods/aia/pubs/june_2008_aia_report.pdf

Year: 2008

Country: United States

URL: http://www.seattle.gov/neighborhoods/aia/pubs/june_2008_aia_report.pdf

Shelf Number: 123912

Keywords:
Alcohol Related Crime, Disorder (Seattle)
Chronic Inebriates
Intoxication
Nuisance Behaviors and Disorder
Public Safety

Author: Silverii, Louis Scott

Title: Policy Alternatives for Reducing Recidivism in Lafourche Parish

Summary: The current correctional philosophy of intense sentencing, incarceration and supervision has failed to produce successful reentry programs that reduce recidivism and calm the public’s fears of victimization. Therefore, the issue of prisoner reentry, theprocess of leaving prison and returning to society was addressed by this project. This project presented a comprehensive evaluation of the correctional system’s philosophy of prisoner reentry and its effect on recidivism. The goal of this project wasto assist Lafourche Parish governing authorities reduce the average rate of recidivismamong those prisoners sentenced to incarceration within the Lafourche ParishCorrectional System (LPCS), identified as the Lafourche Parish Detention Center,Lafourche Parish Work Release Center and the Lafourche Drug Court.The research question was formulated to focus the attention of the research and tomore directly arrive at a conclusion relative to initiatives that have a positive effect onreducing Lafourche Parish recidivism. The research project asks, “Will prisoner reentry programs reduce recidivism among inmates incarcerated in the Lafourche Parish Correctional System?”

Details: Unpublished, 2006. 41p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed on January 31, 2012 at http://www.scribd.com/Silver2/d/7621805-Policy-Alternatives-for-Reducing-Recidivism-in-Lafourche-Parish

Year: 2006

Country: United States

URL: http://www.scribd.com/Silver2/d/7621805-Policy-Alternatives-for-Reducing-Recidivism-in-Lafourche-Parish

Shelf Number: 123916

Keywords:
Evaluative Studies
Prisoner Reentry
Public Safety
Recidivism (Louisiana)

Author: Brennan, Shannon

Title: Canadians' perceptions of personal safety and crime, 2009

Summary: The effects of crime are vast and varied, and may result in many physical, financial, and emotional consequences for those directly involved. Moreover, the effects of crime can extend beyond victims (Jackson 2006, Gardner 2008). Previous research has shown that indirect exposure to crime can impact feelings of security within entire communities, and may create a fear of crime. Fear of crime refers to the fear, rather than the probability, of being a victim of crime, and may not be reflective of the actual prevalence of crime (Fitzgerald 2008). Self-reported victimization data have shown that, in Canada, rates of victimization have remained stable over the past decade (Perreault and Brennan 2010). In the same vein, police-reported data has shown decreases in both the amount and severity of crime, with the crime rate reaching its lowest point since 1973 (Brennan and Dauvergne 2011). Despite these findings, crime continues to remain an issue of concern for many Canadians. Using data from the 2009 General Social Survey (GSS) on Victimization, this Juristat article examines the perceptions of personal safety and crime of Canadians 15 years and older living in the 10 provinces. More specifically, it looks at their overall level of satisfaction with their personal safety from crime over time at the national, provincial and census metropolitan area levels. In addition, this article examines Canadians’ feelings of safety when performing various activities in their communities, and their use of crime prevention techniques in the previous 12 months. Finally, Canadians’ perceptions of the prevalence of crime and social disorder in their neighbourhoods are explored.

Details: Canada: Statistics Canada, Minister of Industry, 2011. 21p.

Source: Juristat article: Internet Resource: Accessed February 17, 2012 at http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/85-002-x/2011001/article/11577-eng.pdf

Year: 2011

Country: Canada

URL: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/85-002-x/2011001/article/11577-eng.pdf

Shelf Number: 124159

Keywords:
Fear of Crime (Canada)
Neighborhoods
Public Safety
Victimization
Victimization Surveys

Author: Immarigeon, Russ

Title: Diversion Works: How Connecticut Can Downsize Prisons, Improve Public Safety and Save Money with a Comprehensive Mental Health and Substance Abuse Approach

Summary: After leading the nation in prison population reduction in 2003, Connecticut's prison population reached record high levels this year, with more than 19,800 men and women behind bars. A recent prison population forecast by the Connecticut Statistical Analysis Center indicates that, unless measures are quickly taken to bring prison population levels back under control, taxpayers are likely to be burdened with excessive and rising costs to pay for capacity expansion. This report outlines how Connecticut can save money and increase public safety through diverting people with mental health and substance abuse issues away from prison.

Details: New York: Drug Policy Alliance, 2008. 19p.

Source: A Better Way Foundation Report, Commissioned by the Drug Policy Alliance: Internet Resource: Accessed February 18, 2012 at http://www.drugpolicy.org/docUploads/DiversionWorks.pdf

Year: 2008

Country: United States

URL: http://www.drugpolicy.org/docUploads/DiversionWorks.pdf

Shelf Number: 124180

Keywords:
Corrections (Connecticut)
Diversion
Drug Offenders
Mentally Ill Offenders
Public Safety

Author: Kurchin, Mariana Kiefer

Title: The Role of Municipalities and the 'New Paradigm' in Safety Public Policies in Brazil: An Analysis of the Process of Shifts in Public Policies

Summary: After the democratic transition in Brazil (1984) public safety has become especially relevant in the country due to high rates of crime and the feeling of insecurity among the population, especially in big cities. In this context, prevention is presented in the last decade in response to the repressive policies that have not prevented the continued growth of violence in the country. Regarding public safety, the Brazilian Constitution stipulates in its art. 144 that public safety is carried out by a set of institutions. The list that follows this statement is composed by different (but only) police forces, which are the exclusive responsibility of the government of the provinces. In this scenario, there is a strong demand for active participation of municipalities in public safety policies by scholars and professionals who work with the topic. This debate was developed within the political arena whereas the legal field was delegitimize as the field of productions of new truths. This thesis seeks to understand the meaning of the decentralization of public safety policies in socio-legal terms, i.e. the production of meaning and new legal interpretation through social and political discourse and the relations between a new discourse and the possibilities of new practices. A shift in the discourse has altered in practice the terms of the debate in the field, but it was necessary to investigate whether the changes in the level of discourse, rather than the regulatory system are sufficient to alter the existing political model.

Details: Onati, Spain: Oñati International Institute for the Sociology of Law, 2011. 40p.

Source: Internet Resource: Oñati Socio-Legal Series, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2011 : Accessed July 1, 2013 at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1737358

Year: 2011

Country: Brazil

URL: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1737358

Shelf Number: 129226

Keywords:
Crime (Brazil)
Crime Prevention
Public Safety

Author: Freel, R.

Title: The Night-Time Economy: Findings from the 2009/10 and 2010/11 Northern Ireland Crime Surveys

Summary: Respondents to the Northern Ireland Crime Survey (NICS) were asked about their perceptions and experiences of visiting their local high street or town centre in the evening to socialise. This might include going to pubs, clubs, restaurants, cinemas, theatres or concerts, meeting up with friends or attending community events and, within the context of the NICS, is referred to as the "night-time economy" (NTE). Over half of both NICS 2009/10 (53%) and 2010/11 (55%) respondents stated that they had not visited the night-time economy in the month preceding interview, with the most commonly cited reason being that they didn't really need or want to go (NICS 2009/10; 77% and NICS 2010/11; 84%). Findings from NICS 2010/11 suggest a relationship between frequency of visits to the night-time economy and age of the respondent, with younger age groups more likely than older age groups to socialise at least once per week (aged 16-24; 40% aged 75 plus; 3%). When age and gender are considered jointly, it is apparent that young men aged between 16 and 24 (50%) were most likely to frequent the NTE displaying a rate almost four times that of the NICS 2010/11 average (13%). NICS 2010/11 results also show a statistically significant increase since 2009/10 in the proportion of respondents who felt "very safe" (from 26% to 30%) and a subsequent decrease in those who felt a bit unsafe(15% to 11%) when socialising in their town centres in the evening. Over a third of respondents (38% in 2009/10; 37% in 2010/11) claimed that the presence of CCTV in the night-time economy made them feel safer whilst 16% of NICS 2009/10 respondents and 14% of NICS 2010/11 respondents were not aware of any CCTV cameras in their town centre. The most common method of transportation usually made for getting home from the NTE was public transport (43% in NICS 2009/10 and 45% in NICS 2010/11) which includes taxis, buses and trains. Findings show a statistically significant reduction in the proportion of NICS respondents who felt a bit unsafe whilst waiting for public transport in the NTE, falling from 23% in 2009/10 to 19% in 2010/11. Around two-fifths of NICS respondents considered people drinking or being drunk in public as the single most serious problem within the night-time economy (40% in 2009/10 and 38% in 2010/11). Over two-thirds of respondents felt that alcohol-related anti-social behaviour (ASB) is a very or fairly big problem in the NTE (69% in NICS 2009/10 and 67% in NICS 2010/11). Results from both sweeps of the survey show that around a third of respondents felt alcohol-related ASB had increased during the previous 12 months (33% in NICS 2009/10 and 31% in NICS 2010/11), with less than a tenth (7% and 8% respectively) of the opinion that the problem had decreased.

Details: Belfast: Northern Ireland Department of Justice, Statistics and Research Branch, 2012. 28p.

Source: Internet Resource: Research and Statistical Bulletin 3/2012: Accessed July 11, 2013 at: http://www.dojni.gov.uk/index/statistics-research/stats-research-publications/northern-ireland-crime-survey-s-r/nics-2009-10-2010-11-night-time-economy-bulletin.pdf

Year: 2012

Country: United Kingdom

URL: http://www.dojni.gov.uk/index/statistics-research/stats-research-publications/northern-ireland-crime-survey-s-r/nics-2009-10-2010-11-night-time-economy-bulletin.pdf

Shelf Number: 129364

Keywords:
Crime Statistics (Northern Ireland, U.K.)
Drunk and Disorderly
Fear of Crime
Night-time Economy
Public Safety

Author: Vilalta, Carlos

Title: Determinant Factors in the Perception of Crime-Related Insecurity in Mexico

Summary: What determines the feeling of insecurity with respect to crime and what can be done about it? This study proposes and tests a correlational model that combines different theoretical determinants of insecurity and the fear of crime. The test was carried out both in the country as a whole and in the Mexico City Metropolitan Area. The sources of information are the National Victimization Survey and Perception on Public Security (ENVIPE) of 2011 and the Victimization Survey and Institutional Effectiveness (ENVEI) of August 2010 and January 2011. The findings suggest that actions to promote civility in neighborhoods and towns and efforts to develop a relationship of trust with the local police should be implemented in order to significantly reduce the feeling of insecurity.

Details: New York: Inter-American development Bank, Institutional Capacity of State Division, 2013. 61p.

Source: Internet Resource: IDB Working Paper Series No. IDB-WP-381: Accessed November 1, 2013 at: http://idbdocs.iadb.org/wsdocs/getdocument.aspx?docnum=37663745

Year: 2013

Country: Mexico

URL: http://idbdocs.iadb.org/wsdocs/getdocument.aspx?docnum=37663745

Shelf Number: 131580

Keywords:
Fear of Crime (Mexico)
Public Safety
Victimization
Violent Crime

Author: American Bar Association. National Task Force on Stand Your Ground Laws

Title: A Review of the Preliminary Report & Recommendations

Summary: In 2013, the National Task Force on Stand Your Ground Laws was convened by the American Bar Association entities identified below, to review and analyze the recently enacted Stand Your Ground laws in multiple states and their impact on public safety and the criminal justice system. The ABA sponsors of the Task Force include the Coalition on Racial & Ethnic Justice, the Center for Racial and Ethnic Diversity, the Commission of Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Profession, Council for Racial and Ethnic Diversity in the Educational Pipeline, the Section on Individual Rights & Responsibilities, the Criminal Justice Section, the Young Lawyer's Division, the Standing Committee on Gun Violence, and the Commission on Youth at Risk. The Task Force members are a diverse array of leaders from law enforcement, government, public and private criminal attorneys, public and private health, academic experts, and other legal and social science experts. Further, the Task Force's membership includes appointees from the above co-sponsoring ABA entities and strategic partners, including the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys, the Urban Institute, the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the National Organization of Parents of Murdered Children. Additionally, the Task Force has an Advisory Committee of leading academic and other legal and social science experts as well as victims' rights advocates. The Task Force has conducted a comprehensive legal and multidisciplinary analysis of the impact of the Stand Your Ground laws, which have substantially expanded the bounds of self-defense law in over half of the jurisdictions in the United States. The study detailed herein is national in its scope and assess the utility of previous, current, and future laws in the area of self-defense across the United States. In examining and reporting on the potential effects Stand Your Ground laws may have on public safety, individual liberties, and the criminal justice system, the Task Force has: 1. Examined the provisions of Stand Your Ground statutes and analyzed the potential for their misapplication and their risk of injustice from multiple perspectives, e.g. the individual's right to exercise self-defense, the victim's rights, and of the rights of the criminally accused. 2. Analyzed the degree to which racial or ethnic bias impacts Stand Your Ground laws. Particular attention was paid to the role implicit bias. First, the analysis focuses on how implicit bias may impact the perception of a deadly threat as well as the ultimate use of deadly force. Second, it looks at how implicit bias impacts the investigation, prosecution, immunity, and final determination of which homicides are justified. 3. Examined the effect that the surge of new Stand Your Ground laws had on crime control objectives and public safety. 4. Reviewed law enforcement policy, administrative guidelines, statutes, and judicial rulings regarding the investigation and prosecution of Stand Your Ground cases. 5. Conducted a series of regional public hearings to learn about community awareness, perceptions of equality in enforcement and application, opinions concerning the utility of the laws, and reactions to individualized experiences involving interactions with Stand Your Ground laws. 6. Prepared a final report and recommendations.

Details: American Bar Association, 2014. 71p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 9, 2014 at: http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/racial_ethnic_justice/aba_natl_task_force_on_syg_laws_preliminary_report_program_book.authcheckdam.pdf

Year: 2014

Country: United States

URL: http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/racial_ethnic_justice/aba_natl_task_force_on_syg_laws_preliminary_report_program_book.authcheckdam.pdf

Shelf Number: 133195

Keywords:
Crime Control
Gun Control Policy
Gun Violence
Guns (U.S.)
Homicide
Public Safety
Self-Defense
Stand Your Ground Laws

Author: Police Foundation

Title: The Wilmington Public Safety Strategies Commission: Final Report

Summary: The City of Wilmington is the largest and the most culturally and economically diverse city in Delaware. The ability of the City to grow and improve the lives of its residents depends on its ability effectively to provide public safety. The residents, employers, and civic and community leaders with whom we speak routinely cited public safety as a principal concern affecting their decisions about where to live, where to locate their business, and how to lead the City to a better future. Like many cities, Wilmington experiences a significant amount of crime, including crimes of violence, drug crimes and nuisance crimes. However, many cities across the country have experienced significant reductions in crimes in all categories in recent years - often attributed to improved policing strategies. Wilmington is not one of those cities. According to the FBI, Wilmington ranks third in violence among 450 cities of its size and sixth among all cities over 50,000. Crime in Wilmington - and particularly homicides - has reached record numbers in recent years. Over the past decade, the City of Wilmington has averaged 118 shooting victims per year, reaching a record high of 154 shootings victims in 2013. In 2014 alone, there were 127 shooting victims and 23 shooting deaths in the City. The principal questions facing the Wilmington Public Safety Strategies Commission are why the City of Wilmington has not experienced the same crime reductions enjoyed by similarly situated municipalities across the country and what Wilmington can do about that. This report offers our examination of the strategies currently being employed by the City and the WPD, and our proposal of strategies that might be employed to better address the WPD's core mission of creating a safer Wilmington. Improving public safety in Wilmington is challenging, but it is certainly not impossible. Wilmington has three built-in advantages. First and most significantly, Wilmington has a sufficiently large police force to bring appropriate resources to bear on this issue. While we make clear in this report that there are several areas of police work that deserve additional resources, and that a reorganization of some functions would assist the Department, the WPD begins this work with a force large enough to effectively patrol and fight crime in Wilmington. Second, as the Crime Analysis and CAD Incident Analysis done by Temple University's Jerry Ratcliffe, Ph.D. make clear, "[s]mall areas of the city account for a large proportion of the crime and community harm." As a result, if appropriate strategies are brought to bear on those small areas, significant reductions in crime can be obtained. Third, many people with whom we spoke in the WPD, from the leadership to rank-and-file officers, recognize that there is a need for and opportunity to change for the better. Significant cultural and organizational changes can be made only with buy-in from those tasked with the need to lead and implement those changes, and the recognition of the need for and inevitability of change was evident in many of the law enforcement professionals with whom we spoke. Generally, we found that WPD has a respond-and-react orientation and structure that focuses on resolving calls for service rather than proactively implementing crime reduction strategies. Although WPD is sufficiently staffed, the department does not deploy sufficient officers in patrol and key investigatory functions. WPD is behind other law enforcement agencies in its use of technology (some of which it already owns) to both analyze and predict crime, as well as to provide accountability of its officers as to there whereabouts and activities. The WPD's investigatory units do not solve a sufficient number of crimes - particularly homicides - and can improve its investigatory functions and victims' services. The Wilmington community appreciates the dedication and effort of the Department's officers, but some community relationships have become strained and can be improved. All of the issues identified in this report are fixable, and none is exclusive to Wilmington. Many of the building blocks for reform are already in place - a city and community that recognizes the need for change, a WPD administration that is open to new strategies, and supportive local partners.

Details: Washington, DC: Police Foundation, 2015. 200p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 6, 2015 at: http://www.policefoundation.org/sites/g/files/g798246/f/201504/WPSSC%20Final%20Report%203_31_15.pdf

Year: 2015

Country: United States

URL: http://www.policefoundation.org/sites/g/files/g798246/f/201504/WPSSC%20Final%20Report%203_31_15.pdf

Shelf Number: 135155

Keywords:
Crime Statistics
Gun-Related Violence
Homicides
Police Reform
Police Response
Police-Community Relations
Policing
Policing Strategies
Public Safety
Violent Crime

Author: Selby, Nick

Title: ShotSpotter: Gunshot Location System Efficacy Study

Summary: This report, based on structured interviews with police agencies around the United States, details how the ShotSpotter Gunshot Location System (GLS) improves productivity, response time and effectiveness by providing more information and intelligence to law enforcement and public safety professionals responding to incidents. This in turn improves officer safety and officer and investigative efficiency. The ShotSpotter GLS detects gunshots through acoustic sensors. Using a patented method of computer analysis, it provides police and public safety agency users with information and intelligence on gunfire incidents, including shot location and incident mapping, number of shots detected, and audio playback. This report was commissioned by ShotSpotter and is endorsed by the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE). Its findings are independent. Its purpose is to examine the effectiveness of the ShotSpotter GLS at locating and reporting gunshots, informing more efficient investigations, increasing arrests, simplifying the jobs and increasing the safety of police officers and communities. It specifically compares the ShotSpotter GLS to 9-1-14 in terms of the reporting of gunshots, and examines how having data produced by ShotSpotter GLS has affected the work and procedures of patrol and detectives who respond to and investigate gunshot crimes. The study's authors from the police officer-owned independent commercial research firm CSG Analysis, met with five respondent groups-command staff, analysts, detectives, patrol officers and dispatchers-from seven police agencies throughout the United States. These agencies were selected by ShotSpotter for characteristics including the length of deployment (all have had ShotSpotter for more than a year), and the fact that before installation, each agency indicated it had a substantial criminal gunfire problem. The participating agencies were Brockton, Mass.; East Palo Alto, Calif.; Nassau County, N.Y.; Richmond, Calif.; Riviera Beach, Fla.; Rochester, N.Y.; and Saginaw, Mich. The study's authors conducted all of the interviews in person at each of these agencies. No agency received compensation or consideration for its participation. All interview transcripts, surveys and raw data on which the report's conclusions are based are available for inspection to confirm the authors' findings. The ShotSpotter GLS significantly enhances patrol officers' ability to locate the scene of a shooting over 9-1-1 alone, and provides officers more situational awareness when responding to gunshot calls. This information and enhanced awareness has saved lives and led to arrests. Since many gunshots are not reported to 9-1-1, but almost all within a ShotSpotter-covered area are detected by the ShotSpotter. The system allows cities to better understand the true level of gunfire in their communities and deploy resources more effectively. ShotSpotter's accuracy in pinpointing the precise location(s) from which shots were fired was critical not only to solving gun crimes, but even in one case, in determining which agency should investigate the incident. Command staff at all seven agencies noted significant community and public relations benefits and value from ShotSpotter, leading to compelling improvements in community policing, increased community responsiveness to gunfire, and a decreased sense of disenfranchisement among community stakeholders. In short, ShotSpotter deployments increase positive community engagement with law enforcement. False positives, a ShotSpotter activation which is ultimately determined to have been caused by something other than a gunshot, are the single most common complaint of ShotSpotter users, and they pose an operational problem. This report examines the cause and level of false positives and makes specific recommendations to reduce them. False negatives, an absence of a ShotSpotter activation when a gunshot is known to have occurred, are very rare and not considered an operational issue by respondents. Finally, this report considers ways in which agencies may get better value from their ShotSpotter deployment by introducing new workflow management and best practices. Implementing these would result in more strategic use of ShotSpotter to inform Intelligence-Led Policing, Neighborhood and Community Policing, and other important policing, law enforcement and crime reduction initiatives.

Details: Newark, CA: ShotSpotter; CSG Analysis, 2011. 45p.

Source: Internet Resource; Accessed May 1, 2015 at: https://csganalysis.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/shotspotter_efficacystudy_gls8_45p_let_2011-07-08_en.pdf

Year: 2011

Country: United States

URL: https://csganalysis.files.wordpress.com/2011/08/shotspotter_efficacystudy_gls8_45p_let_2011-07-08_en.pdf

Shelf Number: 135449

Keywords:
Gun-Related Violence
Guns
Public Safety
Weapons

Author: Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority

Title: Public Safety, Crime and Justice Report

Summary: Every day, thousands of dedicated men and women in blue risk their lives to keep the residents of the sprawling Chicago metropolitan region safe. Their service and sacrifice are deeply appreciated. Unfortunately, the criminal justice system in the Chicago metropolitan region and across the United States has been heavily criticized for not always meeting the "Big Three Es" Efficiency, Effectiveness, and Equity. The system is slow in administering justice and expensive to maintain. Too often the system that is supposed to rehabilitate offenders is unable to prevent them from returning to crime. And too often the system that is supposed to dispense justice is accused of enforcing laws in a manner that discriminates against persons of color and the poor. Indeed, research has documented racial bias in decisions regarding arrests, searches, prosecutions, and sentencing, thus yielding today's problem of disproportionate minority contact. Furthermore, research has documented some abusive encounters between the police and the public. This has resulted in reduced public confidence in the legitimacy of the criminal justice system. In an attempt to enhance safety in our communities, American society has become heavily reliant on punitive, zero tolerance strategies. This has resulted in the rapid growth of prison populations over the past two decades, mostly affecting persons of color with limited means, and often involving non-violent offenders. The result is that United States now has the highest rate of imprisonment per capita in the world. In addition to enhancing the existing system, this report suggests a need to seriously consider alternative models of justice, such as the Balanced and Restorative Justice (BARJ) approach - which gives balanced attention to public safety, individual accountability to victims and the community, and development of skills to help offenders live law abiding and productive lives. The report also suggests the need to create an independent system of measurement to monitor the fairness of the criminal justice system and measure public safety outcomes that are important to the community, but are not captured in current indicators. Besides crime rates, the public cares about the quality of life in their neighborhoods as measured by levels of physical and social disorder, fear of crime, and their freedom to use the local environment without concern for safety. The community also cares deeply about equity and fairness during encounters with the police and other agents of the criminal justice system.

Details: Chicago: Chicago Community Trust; Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority; University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) Center for Research in Law and Justice, 2009. 127p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed July 15, 2015 at: http://www.issuelab.org/resource/public_safety_crime_and_justice_report

Year: 2009

Country: United States

URL: http://www.issuelab.org/resource/public_safety_crime_and_justice_report

Shelf Number: 136057

Keywords:
Criminal Justice Policy
Criminal Justice Reform
Criminal Justice Systems
Public Safety
Racial Bias
Racial Discrimination

Author: Marczak, Jason

Title: Security in Central America's Northern Triangle: Violence Reduction and the Role of the Private Sector in El Salvador

Summary: In the Northern Triangle countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, the increase in violence and organized crime highlights the need for new approaches to improve citizen security. In the case of El Salvador, a March 2012 gang truce has halved the daily homicide rate, opening an opportunity to build on existing efforts or to launch new approaches aimed at violence prevention. While public safety is the responsibility of the state, this Americas Society policy brief highlights the role of the private sector in violence prevention. It highlights innovative corporate efforts in violence prevention so that policymakers, businesses leaders, and others concerned about improvements in security can learn from these initiatives and obtain a more nuanced grasp of the possible space that can be filled by the private sector. Security in Central America's Northern Triangle: Violence Reduction and the Role of the Private Sector in El Salvador focuses on the role that multinational corporations can play in forging an integrated approach to crime reduction. This is a little known field in Central America. While the policy brief analyzes reinsertion efforts for former gang members and at-risk youth programs in the Salvadoran context, it also serves as a reference point for Honduras and Guatemala. Drawing examples from a larger sample of violence prevention efforts, the Americas Society policy brief highlights five corporate efforts that are creating safer communities and contributing to business bottom line. The local focus and the direct or indirect cooperation with the public sector are critical to program success. One of the companies, Grupo Calvo, employs 90 rehabilitated former gang members in its El Salvador plant-about 5 percent of its staff-and facilitates employment opportunities with suppliers for an additional 100 former gang members. These workers are some of the strongest and most productive employees at Grupo Calvo as well as at League Collegiate Wear, where 15 percent (40 employees) of its Salvadoran workforce joined the company through its reinsertion program. Additional companies featured in the policy brief include the AES Corporation, Microsoft Corporation, and Rio Grande Foods. Five recommendations are issued: 1.The private and public sectors each bring unique ideas, resources, and skills to violence prevention efforts and must find ways to coordinate these efforts, especially at the local level. 2.Corporate practices to improve security must be continuously catalogued and updated with a central repository and coordinating institution. 3.Private-sector violence prevention programs must be recognized both for their value in improving local communities as well the potential benefits they can bring to corporate bottom lines. 4.Reinsertion efforts and at-risk youth programs analyzed in the Salvadoran context should serve as examples-both the lessons learned and the overall strategies-for other Northern Triangle countries. 5.Regular dialogue between the public and private sectors is critical for identifying medium- to long-term violence prevention programs that will outlast the period in office of one particular official or political party.

Details: New York: Americas Society, 2011. 21p.

Source: Internet Resource: Americas Society Policy Brief: Accessed July 23, 2015 at: http://www.as-coa.org/sites/default/files/Central%20American%20Security%202012.pdf

Year: 2011

Country: Central America

URL: http://www.as-coa.org/sites/default/files/Central%20American%20Security%202012.pdf

Shelf Number: 136141

Keywords:
At-Risk Youth
Drug Trafficking
Gangs
Public Safety
Violence
Violence Prevention
Violent Crime

Author: Scheider, Matthew C.

Title: The Relationship between Economic Conditions, Policing, and Crime Trends

Summary: Many agencies have recently experienced budget constrictions resulting in significant reductions in staffing levels. In every corner of the United States agencies are being forced to lay off sworn and civilian staff members. Many believe that at some point it is likely that these troubling trends will begin to impact public safety - if they haven't already. While a logical presumption, it is difficult to reliably demonstrate a causal relationship between the economy and crime, the number of police and crime, or the effects of police budgets on crime. This report intends to provide insight into the complexities that exist. By understanding how and why many common measures are inadequate, officials will be better prepared when faced with difficult questions regarding resource allocation, crime prevention strategies, and the development of sustainable plans to facilitate the highest levels of public safety.

Details: Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, 2012. 23p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 5, 2015 at: http://ric-zai-inc.com/Publications/cops-p248-pub.pdf

Year: 2012

Country: United States

URL: http://ric-zai-inc.com/Publications/cops-p248-pub.pdf

Shelf Number: 136682

Keywords:
Crime Trends
Police Officers
Public Safety
Socioeconomic Conditions and Crime

Author: Eisenhauer, Simone

Title: Managing event places and viewer spaces: Security, surveillance and stakeholder interests at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa

Summary: This thesis explores the security risk management and commercial organisation of public urban spaces at the 2010 FIFA World Cup (FWC) in South Africa. Extending knowledge of how commercial interests intersect with security risk management of public urban spaces at sport mega-events, this study examines these concepts in a developing world context. Using a neoliberal theoretical lens and drawing on the concepts of Festivalisation and Disneyisation, the research contributes to academic scholarship in the areas of both sport and event management. This is achieved through a critical examination of security and commercialisation strategies in 'public spaces' at a sport mega-event, namely, public viewing areas (PVAs) and commercial restricted zones (CRZs). The research problem was investigated by means of an inductive interpretive qualitative case study approach. The selected event was the 2010 FWC, and within this event an indepth case study of Cape Town was selected for examination. Multiple sources of evidence included government, management, and media documentation. In addition, semi-structured interviews were drawn upon to generate a narrative of the roles and interests of three key stakeholders (the event owner, event sponsor and event host) in the process of strategically managing PVAs and CRZs. The government's policies, decisions, and actions associated with staging of the 2010 FWC reflected new and exemplary forms of neoliberal urban governance in concert with intensified levels of policing and securitisation. The measures taken to combat ambush marketing were of particular note. FIFA's requirements on the host city facilitated decisions about public and private spaces that redefined public policies and rules. Intensification of spatial and social fragmentation and greater exclusion resulted; in other words, the evidence demonstrates the phenomenon of the 'FIFA-isation' of public space. Rhetoric from event owners and city authorities on the benefits of hosting the FWC claimed intended outcomes, which were the exact opposite of what eventuated.

Details: Sydney: University of Technology, Sydney: 2013. 364p.

Source: Internet Resource: Dissertation: Accessed September 18, 2015 at: https://opus.lib.uts.edu.au/research/bitstream/handle/10453/23538/02whole.pdf?sequence=5

Year: 2013

Country: South Africa

URL: https://opus.lib.uts.edu.au/research/bitstream/handle/10453/23538/02whole.pdf?sequence=5

Shelf Number: 136811

Keywords:
Public Safety
Public Spaces
Risk Management
Security
Sporting Events
World Cup

Author: Ferguson Commission

Title: Forward through Ferguson: A path toward racial equity

Summary: The Ferguson Commission is an independent group appointed by Missouri Governor Jay Nixon on November 18, 2014, to conduct a "thorough, wide-ranging and unflinching study of the social and economic conditions that impede progress, equality and safety in the St. Louis region." The need to address these conditions was underscored by the unrest in the wake of the death of Michael Brown, Jr. in Ferguson on August 9, 2014. The Commission's Charge The Commission, composed of 16 diverse volunteer leaders, was charged with the following: To examine the underlying causes of these conditions, including poverty, education, governance, and law enforcement; To engage with local citizens, area organizations, national thought leaders, institutions, and experts to develop a thorough and comprehensive understanding of the concerns related to these conditions; and To issue an unflinching report containing specific, practical policy recommendations for making the region a stronger, fairer place for everyone to live. This is that report.

Details: Ferguson, MO: The Commission, 2015. 198p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 18, 2015 at: https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/2413166/fergusoncommissionreport-091415.pdf

Year: 2015

Country: United States

URL: https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/2413166/fergusoncommissionreport-091415.pdf

Shelf Number: 136831

Keywords:
Deadly Force
Police Misconduct
Police Use of Force
Public Safety
Racial Equality
Socioeconomic Conditions and Crime

Author: Mthembu, Nompumelelo

Title: Tourism Crime, Safety and Security in the Umhlathuze District Municipality, KwaZulu-Natal.

Summary: Recreation and Tourism as a profession is new in South Africa. In the past not much concern was given to the provision and utilisation of recreation and Tourism facilities for the previously disadvantaged communities. Recreation has not been taken as a significant component of life for Blacks because of the apartheid system that existed. In the recent history of South Africa, recreation facilities were mainly made available to the White population areas, with Black areas and being neglected. As such there has been alienation between communities, tourists and hosts, as well as tourism service providers and tourism authorities. These stakeholders have not successfully tackled tourism problem, and more specifically that of tourism crime, safety and security. The focus of this study was to investigate the tourism crime, safety and security in uMhlathuze District Municipality, with special reference to policy formulation and its practise. The main objectives of this study are the following; - To find out whether the local community understands the importance of tourism crime, safety and security in the study area. - To establish the extent to which tourists feel safe and secure in and around the uMhlathuze District area. - To reveal whether there are adequate policies that address situations of tourism safety and security in the study area. - To investigate the levels to which tourism policies are practiced or implemented in the study area. - To indicate the perceived management of tourism crime, safety and security in the near future for the study area. Data was collected by means of interviews and questionnaires that were administered to 124 participants in uMhlathuze District to establish the state of tourism crime, safety and security, affecting domestic and international tourism. Data analysis was accomplished through using the Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) computer technique. The method used for analysing information appeared to be effective because clear outcomes of the finding were achieved. The most important findings were that, there are criminal activities that are occurring in the study area and some of these activities are not reported and the policies and practices are not known by the members of the community and some of the tourism officials and authorities. The latter suggests that the local people should be taught about the importance of tourism and the tourist in the study area. It was further discovered that some of the crimes that takes place are done by the local people because they do not understand the importance of the tourists in the study area. The importance of safety and security is not known to them and they are not told about it. The local people needs to be told about the importance of tourism activities that are taking place in the study area and they should be encouraged to participate in the activities that can make them to see how important is the tourism and its resources. Safety and security should be applied in order to protect the study area. It was also discovered that the Umhlathuze tourism association should be a major role in making the policy and practices to be known by everyone in the study area who can promote the safety and security of the tourists in the study area. This is the big challenge that the local government is facing. Since local municipality is the government that is closest to the people and represents the interests of the residents, it is responsible for fulfilling the developmental role (DLG; 1998). Therefore, it is clear that local people should be taught about the importance of tourism activities and to make the tourism policies and practices to be known by every stakeholder that is involved in promoting the safety and security in the study area. Further that the local government needs to play a leading role to ensure that they provides the training to the local community about the safety and security of the tourist in the study area even the destination itself.

Details: KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: University of Zululand, 2009. 154p.

Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed October 15, 2015 at: http://uzspace.uzulu.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10530/129/Tourism+Crime,+Safety+&+Security+in+the+Umhlathuze+District+Municipality+-+N+Mthembu.pdf;jsessionid=1C04443006F5DF90CB45CE54F6121373?sequence=1

Year: 2009

Country: South Africa

URL: http://uzspace.uzulu.ac.za/bitstream/handle/10530/129/Tourism+Crime,+Safety+&+Security+in+the+Umhlathuze+District+Municipality+-+N+Mthembu.pdf;jsessionid=1C04443006F5DF90CB45CE54F6121373?sequence=1

Shelf Number: 136979

Keywords:
Public Safety
Recreation
Tourism and Crime
Tourists

Author: Bunten, Alexis

Title: Caning, Context and Class - Mapping the Gaps Between Expert and Public Understandings of Public Safety

Summary: This particular report lays the groundwork for this larger reframing effort by comparing expert discourse on the topic with the ways that average Americans think and talk about public safety. Data from interviews with both groups are compared to locate and examine gaps in understanding surrounding issues pertaining to public safety. In addition to presenting these gaps, this report outlines their implications for communications. Future phases of this project will offer strategies to fill these gaps and address other aspects of public understanding by designing and testing tools that can be employed to effectively and efficiently translate expert and advocate information. This report begins with a summary of foundational themes and concepts experts rely upon to understand, explain and talk about the issues related to public safety. It then turns to a discussion of the research conducted with American citizens through "cultural models interviews" designed to elicit the implicit patterns of thought that Americans share and bring to bear in thinking about and making sense of issues of public safety and criminal justice. These implicit patterns of thinking are referred to here as "cultural models," in that they represent highly conventionalized, broadly shared modes of understanding shaped by Americans' experiences with media, as well as other mediums of common discourse, experience and culture. This discussion is accompanied by a presentation of the communications implications of these cultural models. The final section of this report "maps the gaps" through a comparison of the expert discourse and Americans' cultural models. This analysis reveals specific gaps and overlaps between both groups' understandings. With improved knowledge of these features, we are then able to move toward the second stage of Strategic Frame Analysis, which involves identifying communications strategies that build on these overlaps and close the gaps. In so doing, the larger goal of this research is to give Americans access to new ways of thinking about how we might improve public safety through reforming the criminal justice system.

Details: Washington, DC: Frameworks Institute, 2011. 54p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 8, 2016 at: http://www.frameworksinstitute.org/assets/files/pub_safety/public_safety_mapthegaps.pdf

Year: 2011

Country: United States

URL: http://www.frameworksinstitute.org/assets/files/pub_safety/public_safety_mapthegaps.pdf

Shelf Number: 137440

Keywords:
Criminal Justice Reform
Public Knowledge
Public Opinion
Public Safety

Author: Simon, Adam F.

Title: Framing and Facts: Necessary Synergies in Communicating about Public Safety and Criminal Justice

Summary: It can be argued that nothing is as emblematic of the travails of race in American life as the criminal justice system. Criminal justice advocates have long used facts about the system's racial biases to call for the need for sweeping reforms - advocating for changes to make the system more equitable, efficient and effective in improving public safety for all Americans. The following statistics, for example, have become commonplace in the advocacy discourse and in media coverage more generally: - The United States is the world's No. 1 jailer; - Black men have a 32 percent chance of spending time in prison at some point in their lives, Latino men have a 17 percent chance, and white men have a 6 percent chance of being imprisoned over their lifetime; - Blacks are 17 percent of the juvenile population but 46 percent of juvenile arrests and 41 percent of waivers to adult court. On top of these facts, evidence of the extent and costs of mass incarceration is staggering. In times of fiscal constraints, current levels of prison expenditures are clearly unsustainable. Recent public opinion research suggests that, to some extent, Americans have come to recognize problems with the criminal justice system, particularly in terms of its racial bias. For example, a recent Pew study reports that 70 percent of African Americans and almost 40 percent of whites believe that black Americans receive unequal treatment by the police. The same study also indicates that almost 70 percent of African Americans and 30 percent of whites believe that the courts do not treat black and white Americans equally. In the court of public opinion, the ground seems fertile for the reform of the criminal justice system. So, if the American public believes the system discriminates against men of color, the data underscore the significance of these racial disparities, and the price of incarceration is so clearly unsustainable, why is advocating for reform so difficult? One answer is that the advocacy community is not framing the issue in a way that allows Americans to connect understandings of the system's problems with a set of viable solutions.5 Without such a connection, we argue, momentum for reform is lost when people cannot connect their values for the society to specific system reforms and policy changes. Energy dissipates; opposition manipulates opinion and gains ground while citizens are unable to make the case for the reforms they struggle to articulate.

Details: Washington, DC: Frameworks Institute, 2013. 40p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 8, 2016 at: http://www.frameworksinstitute.org/assets/files/pscj_values_and_facts.pdf

Year: 2013

Country: United States

URL: http://www.frameworksinstitute.org/assets/files/pscj_values_and_facts.pdf

Shelf Number: 137441

Keywords:
Criminal Justice Reform
Public Attitudes
Public Opinion
Public Safety
Race and Crime
Racial Discrimination
Racial Disparities

Author: Kendall-Taylor, Nathaniel

Title: Maze and Gears: Using Explanatory Metaphors to Increase Public Understanding of the Criminal Justice System and its Reform

Summary: This report presents the results of metaphor research using qualitative and quantitative methods with approximately 1,300 members of the general public. This research yielded two Explanatory Metaphors - The Justice Maze and Justice Gears - that help advance public understanding of structural problems in the criminal justice system and the need for reform to address these problems.

Details: Washington, DC: FrameWorks Institute, 2013. 39p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 8, 2016 at: http://www.frameworksinstitute.org/assets/files/pscj_metaphors.pdf

Year: 2013

Country: United States

URL: http://www.frameworksinstitute.org/assets/files/pscj_metaphors.pdf

Shelf Number: 137442

Keywords:
Criminal Justice Reform
Public Attitudes
Public Opinion
Public Safety

Author: Wald, Johanna

Title: Adjusting Our Focus: Current Communication Practices and Patterns in the Criminal Justice Sector

Summary: This report presents results from a Field Frame Analysis of influential organizations in the criminal justice reform field. It is informed by, and a part of, a larger multi-year project being conducted by the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice at Harvard Law School (CHHIRJ) and the FrameWorks Institute. The long-term goal of this project is to develop more effective ways to communicate about the challenges facing America's criminal justice system and the reforms necessary to make it more just and equitable. The project aims to provide criminal justice experts and progressive reform advocates with tools and strategic recommendations they can use to reframe their public communications for broad public understanding and support. This means moving public perceptions and policy-making away from ineffective "tough on crime" tactics that over-emphasize policing, prosecution, and prisons in favor of greater investments in programs that address the underlying social and economic issues fueling cycles of incarceration. A Field Frame Analysis captures the patterns of communications that organizations within a given sector use to frame issues. It allows researchers to map networks of influential organizations within the field and identify the ways in which these organizations publicly discuss the issues. Since influential organizations act as "gatekeepers" for the field and shape the direction of programs and policies, the ways in which they communicate - language, frames, topic priorities and word choices - have direct implications on whether and how an issue will be more widely adopted and on the solutions that are proposed. Moreover, as reframing strategies and tools emerge, the Field Frame Analysis allows us to assess how recommendations can best be aligned with existing practices and how the field's discourse and communication practices may need to change in order to accommodate the reframing process. Specifically, this study uses a Field Frame Analysis to address the following questions: Reform Agenda: What are the most prominent issues on the reform agenda of influential organizations in the criminal justice field? Conceptions of Crime and the Criminal Justice System: How do prominent and influential organizations in the criminal justice field frame crime and the criminal justice system? Implications: What are the field-level constraints and opportunities for reframing public safety and criminal justice reform?

Details: Washington, DC: FrameWorks Institute, 2014. 20p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 11, 2016 at: http://www.charleshamiltonhouston.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/CHHIRJ-Report-Adjusting-Our-Focus2.pdf

Year: 2014

Country: United States

URL: http://www.charleshamiltonhouston.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/CHHIRJ-Report-Adjusting-Our-Focus2.pdf

Shelf Number: 137443

Keywords:
Communications
Criminal Justice Policy
Criminal Justice Reform
Public Opinion
Public Safety

Author: Njuguna, Esther

Title: Matching needs with resources: National Police Reserve and community security in Kenya's frontiers

Summary: One of the key challenges faced by communities in Kenya's arid and semi-arid lands (ASAL), such as those in Isiolo and West Pokot counties, is the lack of proper management of the National Police Reserve (NPR) involved in providing security to communities. This has significantly contributed to the misuse of firearms - identified by locals as a significant security concern. Saferworld has been working with local communities in West Pokot and Isiolo counties to improve people's access to security services and their ability to hold local government institutions to account, especially in the use of firearms. This report analyses the needs of the NPR to determine what level of investment would be appropriate to make the NPR a more effective outfit for community security in the ASAL. The report focuses on the problems faced by the NPR, particularly in relation to their ability to respond to public demand for effective security provision. It highlights the challenges faced by the NPR and identifies lessons and opportunities for improving the professionalism and accountability of the NPR as a key security agency in the ASAL.

Details: London: Saferworld, 2015. 28p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 12, 2016: http://www.saferworld.org.uk/resources/view-resource/1018-matching-needs-with-resources-national-police-reserve-and-community-security-in-kenyas-frontiers

Year: 2015

Country: Kenya

URL: http://www.saferworld.org.uk/resources/view-resource/1018-matching-needs-with-resources-national-police-reserve-and-community-security-in-kenyas-frontiers

Shelf Number: 137470

Keywords:
Gun Violence
Guns
Policing
Public Safety

Author: American Bar Association

Title: National Task Force on Stand Your Ground Laws: Report and Recommendations

Summary: In examining and reporting on the potential effects Stand Your Ground laws may have on public safety, individual liberties, and the criminal justice system, the Task Force has: 1. Examined the provisions of Stand Your Ground statutes and analyzed the potential for their misapplication and the risk of injustice from multiple perspectives, e.g., the individual's right to exercise self-defense, the victim's rights, and the rights of the criminally accused. 2. Analyzed the degree to which racial or ethnic bias impacts Stand Your Ground laws. Particular attention was paid to the role of implicit bias. First, the analysis focuses on how implicit bias may impact the perception of a deadly threat as well as the ultimate use of deadly force. Second, it looks at how implicit bias impacts the investigation, prosecution, immunity, and final determination of which homicides are justified. 3. Examined the effect that the surge of new Stand Your Ground laws has on crime control objectives and public safety. 4. Reviewed law enforcement policy, administrative guidelines, statutes, and judicial rulings regarding the investigation and prosecution of Stand Your Ground cases. 5. Conducted a series of regional public hearings to learn about community awareness, perceptions of equality in enforcement and application, opinions concerning the utility of the laws, and reactions to individualized experiences involving interactions with Stand Your Ground laws. 6. Prepared a final report and recommendations.

Details: Chicago: ABA, 2015. 66p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 25, 2016 at: http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/images/diversity/SYG_Report_Book.pdf

Year: 2015

Country: United States

URL: http://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/images/diversity/SYG_Report_Book.pdf

Shelf Number: 137651

Keywords:
Gun Policy
Gun Violence
Homicides
Public Safety
Racial Disparities
Self Defense
Stand Your Ground Laws

Author: Carrow, Lindy

Title: Altgeld-Riverdale Consortium: Outcome Findings

Summary: Since 2013, IMPACT has been working with the Altgeld-Riverdale Consortium (ARC) to evaluate their impact on safety in the community. The ARC consists of a variety of community partners -- nonprofits, schools, service providers, and local leaders -- whose collective goals include improving and strengthening community safety, creating vehicles for consistent communication, and increasing utilization of community resources. In 2014, IMPACT documented the collaborative work and key accomplishments of the ARC in the Altgeld-Riverdale Consortium: Evaluation Findings report. In the second chapter of the evaluation, Altgeld-Riverdale Consortium: Outcome Findings, IMPACT dives into local crime data to investigate the ARC's impact on community safety.

Details: Chicago: Social Impact Research Center, 2015. 51p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed January 28, 2016 at: http://socialimpactresearchcenter.issuelab.org/resource/altgeld_riverdale_consortium_outcome_findings

Year: 2015

Country: United States

URL: http://socialimpactresearchcenter.issuelab.org/resource/altgeld_riverdale_consortium_outcome_findings

Shelf Number: 137696

Keywords:
Community Partnerships
Community Safety
Crime Analysis
Hotspots
Public Safety

Author: Ahmed, Noman

Title: Public and private control and contestation of public space amid violent conflict in Karachi

Summary: Few cities in South Asia have been affected by violence more than Karachi, Pakistan's largest city and economic centre. This working paper examines the impacts of the city's declining security situation on the control and contestation of public space. It focuses specifically on the efforts of public and private actors to protect themselves through the widespread use of physical barriers as a form of conflict infrastructure. To help provide a way forward, recommendations are presented for planning and managing barriers more effectively and equitably, and for supporting alternative means of security for the poorest and most insecure groups. Particular attention is paid to the city's ethnic and religious/sectarian politics and the limited capacity of the authorities, and their difficulties in maintaining neutrality in attempting to intervene.

Details: London: International Institute for Environment and Development, 2015. 41p.

Source: Internet Resource: IIED Working Paper: Accessed January 28, 2016 at: http://pubs.iied.org/pdfs/10752IIED.pdf

Year: 2015

Country: Pakistan

URL: http://pubs.iied.org/pdfs/10752IIED.pdf

Shelf Number: 137701

Keywords:
Public Safety
Public Space
Urban Areas
Urban Crime
Violence
Violent Crime

Author: Lopez Cruz, Ivan G.

Title: Policing, Schooling and Human Capital Accumulation

Summary: A substantial body of empirical and policy literature argues that schooling can be a powerful tool against criminality and violence. On the other hand, recent work has demonstrated that low levels of public safety can have serious detrimental effects on educational outcomes. This paper develops a model to analyze the roles that investments in education and in public safety have for student's educational attainment. The model captures the main stylized facts of the literature and explores the optimal balance between investment in policing and schooling. The model analyses individual decisions to accumulate violence related skills ("street capital") at the expense of human capital accumulation in a setting where property rights require private efforts to be enforced. The model assumes that inhabitants of a region decide, during childhood, to allocate efforts to schooling and/or learning "street skills" that, as adults, will serve them in resolving violent conflicts in their favor. Hence, if the level of public safety, which is the only mean to prevent violent confrontations, is low, the incentives to study will also be lower. Moreover, one of the results establishes that those agents who accumulate more human capital, and hence are more productive, suffer a comparative disadvantage in exerting violence because their opportunity cost of doing so is higher. Therefore, if investments in public education increase the productivity spread between adult agents, the incentives to study might decrease and lead to a lower output, showing that the benefits of schooling can only be seized if they are complemented with enough public safety.

Details: Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Bloomington - Center for Applied Economics and Policy Research, 2015. 35p.

Source: Internet Resource: CAEPR Working Paper No. 024-2015 : Accessed February 5, 2016 at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2714365

Year: 2015

Country: United States

URL: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2714365

Shelf Number: 137762

Keywords:
Education and Crime
Policing
Public Safety

Author: European Commission. Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs

Title: Europeans' Attitudes Towards Security

Summary: Overall perception of security - Around 90% of people say that their immediate neighbourhood and their city, town or village are safe places to live. - Around 80% say that their own country and the EU are secure places to live. - Respect for fundamental rights and freedoms is thought to have the most positive impact on one's personal sense of security - 42% of respondents say this. Perceived threats and challenges - Terrorism is seen as the EU's most important security challenge, with half of all respondents describing it as important. - However, the level of concern varies considerably from country to country: 62% of people in Malta, but only 22% in Latvia, think terrorism is an important challenge. - Since 2011, the proportion of people identifying terrorism and religious extremism as important challenges has increased substantially. Fewer people now think that economic and financial crises are the most important challenge to security. - 65% of people think that terrorism is a very important internal security challenge for the EU, and 92% think it is important. - Over two-thirds of people think that the threat of terrorism is likely to increase over the next three years, with over half also saying that cybercrime and organised crime will increase. - Over eight out of ten respondents think that extremist ideologies, war and political instability, and poverty and social exclusion, are potential sources of threats to EU security. - Only seven out of ten people see climate change and pollution as a potential source of security threats. Responses to address security challenges - The police and the judicial system are seen as being chiefly responsible for ensuring the security of citizens: around nine out of ten respondents say this. - The police are seen as the organisation with the biggest role in ensuring the security of citizens in all but five Member States, where the judicial system is listed first. - Over half of the respondents think the police are doing enough to fight terrorism and drug trafficking, but less than half say enough is being done to fight other crimes. - A majority of respondents think that citizens' rights and freedoms have been restricted for reasons related to fighting terrorism and crime. - People are generally positive about the impact of new technologies, but a quarter think they will have a negative impact on the security of citizens.

Details: Luxembourg: The Commission, 2015. 108p.

Source: Internet Resource: http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_432_en.pdf

Year: 2015

Country: Europe

URL: http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_432_en.pdf

Shelf Number: 137809

Keywords:
Cybercrime
Extremist Groups
Organized Crime
Police Effectiveness
Public Safety
Security
Terrorism

Author: Jagori

Title: Report of the Baseline Survey Delhi 2010

Summary: It is a truism that women in the national capital of Delhi feel unsafe in many public spaces, and at all times of the day and night. Cutting across class, profession, they face continuous and different forms of sexual harassment in crowded as well as secluded places, including public transport, cars, markets, roads, public toilets and parks. School and college students are most vulnerable to harassment, particularly rampant in public transport, particularly buses. Unlike men, women experience the city differently and have to devise their own safety strategies to negotiate public spaces during day and night. To address the issue, a joint action research initiative was undertaken by the Department of Women and Child Development, Government of Delhi, JAGORI, UNIFEM South Asia Regional Office and UN Habitat titled Safe City Free of Violence for Women and Girls, this baseline survey is based on a sample of 5010 women and men, conducted by during the period January - March 2010 by New Concept Information Systems, New Delhi. Conducted to research into factors that create greater safety and inclusion for women in public spaces around the city, the survey gathered and analyzed information about the following: (a) nature and forms of gender-based violence and/or harassment faced by women, (b) spots where these incidents happen and that are perceived to be unsafe and inaccessible to women, (c) strategies adopted by women to defend themselves, (d) role of governing agencies and the police in safeguarding women's rights, and (e) societal perceptions and attitudes to sexual harassment. Some of the findings supported the results of the previous surveys undertaken by Jagori (2007 and 2009). However, there are some new insights as well. The findings of the survey and its recommendations (including interactions with key stakeholders) are part of the strategic framework that will guide interventions to make Delhi a safer city for women, especially those from vulnerable groups. The outcome of the study is expected to feed into further dialogue and planning for improved gender-sensitive infrastructure, mechanisms and programming. Hopefully, this would enable women from diverse backgrounds to realize their fundamental right to work, study and move around without violence and fear.

Details: New Delhi: Jagori, 2011. 64p.

Source: Internet Resource: Safe Cities Free of Violence against Women and Girls Initiative: March 17, 2016 at: http://www.jagori.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Baseline-Survey_layout_for-Print_12_03_2011.pdf

Year: 2011

Country: India

URL: http://www.jagori.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/Baseline-Survey_layout_for-Print_12_03_2011.pdf

Shelf Number: 138307

Keywords:
Fear of Crime
Gender-Based Violence
Public Places
Public Safety
Sexual Harassment
Violence Against Women, Girls

Author: Peirce, Jennifer

Title: Gap Analysis Report: Citizen Security in Belize

Summary: In the face of rising crime rates and increasingly complex transnational and local criminal dynamics, Belize's limited institutional resources are overstretched. Youth violence and gangs are of particular concern in urban areas, where lack of education and employment options converge with the prevalence of guns and trafficking networks. Despite some promising smaller-scale crime prevention initiatives, a comprehensive crime prevention strategy requires more significant institutional reforms. This Technical Note reviews the current trends in crime and violence in Belize and the government's existing policies and programs in the sector. It then proposes several short and medium-term actions to strengthen the government's ability to prevent and reduce crime and violence, such as consolidating strategic planning and information management efforts, designing prevention programs more tailored to specific at-risk groups, bolstering criminal investigation and community policing resources, and adapting the corrections system to the specific needs of juveniles and gang-involved youth.

Details: Washington, DC: Inter-American Development Bank, 2013. 33p.

Source: Internet Resource: Technical Note No. IDB -TN-572: Accessed March 21, 2016 at: http://www.vanderbilt.edu/lapop/news/102313.AB-Belize-IADB.pdf

Year: 2013

Country: Belize

URL: http://www.vanderbilt.edu/lapop/news/102313.AB-Belize-IADB.pdf

Shelf Number: 138354

Keywords:
Crime
Crime Prevention
Crime Rates
Public Safety
Urban Crime
Youth Gangs
Youth Violence

Author: Inter-American Commission on Human Rights

Title: Situation of Human Rights in Guatemala: Siversity, Inequality and Exclusion

Summary: The report "Situation of Human Rights in Guatemala: Diversity, Inequality and Exclusion," addresses structural challenges on public safety, access to justice and impunity, marginalization and discrimination that seriously affect the human rights of its inhabitants. The report particularly analyzes the system of administration of justice in Guatemala and the need for appropriate, efficient, independent and impartial, in order to respond to structural impunity for several past and present human rights violations. Also, the report especially addresses the situation of the indigenous peoples of Guatemala, whose rights to their ancestral lands and territories have been affected, and suffer exclusion, inequality and malnutrition as a result of racism and structural discrimination. The report analyzes the situation of human rights of human rights defenders, journalists, women, children and adolescents, persons with disabilities, lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual and intersex persons and migrants. "We have noticed changes in Guatemala in favor of a society that is more respectful of human rights," said the IACHR Rapporteur for Guatemala, Commissioner Enrique Gil Botero. "These advances have been promoted and triggered by the efforts of public officials committed to justice, as well as human rights defenders and social leaders. Their work, which often endangers their life and integrity, has been and continues to be essential. " Among the improvements, the IACHR highlights the reduction in the homicide rate and the September 2015 Constitutional Court's decision, which for the first time ordered the implementation of a prior and informed consultation with the indigenous communities affected by an investment project. Furthermore, also regarding administration of justice, the Commission highlights the efforts of the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) and the Public Ministry in their work dismantling criminal networks and fighting against corruption. The IACHR also appreciates the efforts taken by the State in order to create a program to protect journalists, prevent and combat human trafficking, as well as to register differentiated statistics on violence against women to feed the design of public policies, among others. The IACHR also applauds the decision taken by the government to extend the mandate of the CICIG in 2015, whose work has been crucial.

Details: Washington, DC: IACHR, 2015. 221p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 26, 2016 at: http://www.oas.org/en/iachr/reports/pdfs/Guatemala2016-en.pdf

Year: 2015

Country: Guatemala

URL: http://www.oas.org/en/iachr/reports/pdfs/Guatemala2016-en.pdf

Shelf Number: 138418

Keywords:
Crime Rates
Criminal Justice Systems
Discrimination
Homicides
Human Rights Abuses
Indigenous Peoples
Public Safety
Violence
Violent Crime

Author: Painter, Anthony

Title: Safer Together: Policing a global city in 2020

Summary: 'Safer together: policing a global city in 2020' is an analysis based on an extensive consultation, wide-ranging research, and the RSA's public service and institutional reform specialisms. It is an ambitious set of proposals to generate a public conversation about the future of London's safety - a critical component of its success as a global city. Following an extensive engagement with 500 of the most senior Met officers and others throughout the service and a consultation involving more than seventy external organisations, Safer Together establishes a shared mission. This mission involves public agencies, the voluntary sector, companies, the public and the police themselves. In a context of severe budgetary constraints and a changing pattern of crime, which is becoming more complex, the risk for London is that all those involved in its safety could be overwhelmed. The report outlines an approach that relies on deeper co-operation, better use of information and 'what works' analysis, and more extensive engagement of the police with London's communities and members of the public who need its support. The RSA proposes: - A Community Safety Index for London that will combine objective measures of crime and incidence of risk and harm with subjective measures such as feelings of safety, absence of anti-social behaviour and neighbourhood quality. - A London Policing Impact Unit that would combine operational, academic, and strategic knowledge. The Impact Unit would analyse data and learn from on-the-ground experience of 'what works'. These lessons would then be applied in the Met. A representative Citizens' Panel would inform its work. - New forms of collective impact to focus on particular challenges should be extended. These will broaden and widen the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub approach where agencies work in close cooperation. This means a permanent engagement on shared issues of concern such as domestic violence, mental health, or anti-social behavior. - A deepening of the Met's engagement with victims and witnesses, for example through greater deployment of restorative justice and greater analysis of victim needs and more continuous communication with them. Only through devolution of more powers over the criminal justice system to London can this take place convincingly. And there is a need for deeper community engagement - especially through the Safer Neighbourhood Boards and through the smart use of social media. 'Safer Together' is a considered yet ambitious response to the challenges of next few years in London. It provides a wider lens for current concerns on the future of public services and the public's relationship with them. It will be of interest to all those involved in changes to the public sector and those who rely on these changes succeeding - the public themselves.

Details: London: RSA Action and Research Centre, 2015. 78p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 5, 2016 at: https://www.thersa.org/discover/publications-and-articles/reports/safer-together-policing-a-global-city-in-2020/

Year: 2015

Country: United Kingdom

URL: https://www.thersa.org/discover/publications-and-articles/reports/safer-together-policing-a-global-city-in-2020/

Shelf Number: 138955

Keywords:
Community Participation
Crime Prevention
Neighborhoods and Crime
Police Effectiveness
Policing
Public Safety
Urban Areas

Author: Muggah, Robert

Title: Making Cities Safer: Citizen Security Innovations from Latin America

Summary: Cities are where the policy and practice of citizen security are determined. Although national and subnational strategies are essential to scaling-up crime prevention, cities are where they are put into practice. Because of the way they bring opportunities and risks into focus, cities are natural laboratories of policy innovation to prevent and reduce violence. Some of the most remarkable progress in homicide reduction, crime prevention and public safety in recent decades has occurred in large and medium-sized cities, especially in Latin America and the Caribbean. This report explores the evidence of what works, and what does not, when it comes to promoting citizen security in Latin American and Caribbean cities. While not exhaustive, the report features a range of positive and less positive experiences of 10 municipalities and metropolitan areas across the region. The goal is to highlight the change in approach from hardline law and order approaches to ones that emphasize multi-sector and preventive measures. The structure of the report is straightforward. Each case study includes a broad overview of the context and problem, a description of the intervention and how it was implemented, and some reflections on the outcomes and impacts. -

Details: Rio de Janeiro: Igarape Institute; Washington, DC: Inter-American Development Bank, 2016. 49p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 28, 2016 at: https://publications.iadb.org/handle/11319/7757

Year: 2016

Country: Latin America

URL: https://publications.iadb.org/handle/11319/7757

Shelf Number: 146157

Keywords:
Citizen Security
Crime Prevention
Homicides
Public Safety
Violence
Violent Crime

Author: Caudill, Jonathan W.

Title: Considering the life-course of crime: contextualizing California's AB109 offender under correctional supervision

Summary: In January 2012, the California State University, Chico, Consortium for Public Safety Research (CPSR) established a long-term collaborative relationship with the Butte County Sheriff's Office (BCSO) some three and a half months after the State of California started the process of transferring non-serious, non-violent, and non-sexual felony offender supervision to the counties. The significance of this transfer of supervision responsibilities cannot be overstated given the additional resources required to serve this population. As a part of a collaboration agreement, the CPSR has conducted a long-term assessment of the impact of AB 109 on the BCSO. Specifically, the CPSR has focused on the changing correctional client population for this report. As evidenced by the findings presented in the Findings section, the BCSO experienced a substantial shift in correctional client demographics and, thus, was required to reformulate their correctional mission. In the CPSR's first report, Breaking Ground: Preliminary Report of Butte County Sheriff's Alternative Custody Supervision Program, the authors made five results-based recommendations to improve correctional supervision and treatment. These recommendations focused on a clearer understanding of the new correctional client population as well as developing mechanisms to increase efficiencies in supervision and treatment strategies. Specifically, the CPSR made the following recommendations to the BCSO: 1. have the staff conduct a supervision and treatment plan for all potential ACS eligible inmates; 2. support their continued search for an appropriate offender management system that has the capacity to store historical data and network with other county systems; 3. further formalize the ACS program, to include additional officer training and a comprehensive, evidence-based supervision strategy; 4. explore a population-validated risk assessment tool, and; 5. work proactively to prioritize research projects promoting public safety and resource management. The BCSO has made significant strides toward full realization of these recommendations. For instance, the BCSO selected an offender management system and is now engaged in implementation. Further, the Alternative Custody Supervision (ACS) Program has conducted several community supervision trainings, implemented a caseload management system, and, is in the process of solidifying a comprehensive and scientifically validated training protocol for all ACS Deputies. These two recommendations aside, the BCSO requested the CPSR provide specific consultation to explore a population-validated risk assessment tool as the basis for individualized offender supervision and treatment plans. Thus, this report focuses on Life-course persistence in and desistance from crime. The Introduction section provides a general understanding of the Lifecourse framework and the Discussion section uses this framework to: (1) provide a clearer understanding of the correctional population shift in the BCSO via an inmate needs survey; (2) present results from a program exit predictive model; (3) introduce the findings from, and recommendations based on, a population-validated risk assessment instrument pilot study, and; (4) explore the ACS program supervision strategies. In short, this report contains evidence supporting three new recommendations to further the connectivity between service provision and public safety. The first recommendation, the BCSO expand therapeutic services in the jail, is the product of viewing inmate survey results through the Life-course lens. This orientation suggests the BCSO has an opportunity to harness the turning point of incarceration and, therefore, early incarceration programming may encourage desistance from crime.

Details: Chico, CA: Consortium for Public Safety Research, California State University, Chico, 2013. 37p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed October 19, 2016 at: http://www.buttecounty.net/Portals/24/Brochures/2013%20Caudill%20et%20al%20Considering%20the%20Life%20course%20of%20Crime.pdf

Year: 2013

Country: United States

URL: http://www.buttecounty.net/Portals/24/Brochures/2013%20Caudill%20et%20al%20Considering%20the%20Life%20course%20of%20Crime.pdf

Shelf Number: 145886

Keywords:
Community Supervision
Inmate Supervision
Life-Course Criminology
Offender Supervision
Public Safety
Risk Assessment

Author: Anderholt, Charlotte

Title: Female Participation in Formed Police Units: A Report on the Integration of Women in Formed Police Units of Peacekeeping Operations

Summary: This report examines the obstacles that continue to hamper the integration of women into Formed Police Units (FPUs) of Peacekeeping Operations in accordance with the principles of United Nations (UN) Resolution 1325. To address this topic the study (1) briefly establishes the emerging importance of police units to peacekeeping operations, (2) outlines the key principles of UN Resolution 1325, (3) discusses the need for diversity, especially gender diversity, in police units, (4) discusses the core obstacles to integrating women into police units, (5) offers accounts of the major UN peacekeeping missions that utilized Formed Police Units (FPUs) or their predecessor organizations, and (6) concludes with summary recommendations for improving the integration of women into FPUs. It is important to clarify that while there is a literature on women in peacekeeping, there are no systematic studies that address the question of women in FPUs. Because of this lack of data, the report compares the experience of gender integration in municipal police forces in the United States with accounts of FPUs or related UN police units and their experience with gender integration. In addition, the narrow question of women in FPUs cannot be separated from the larger question of the unique vulnerability of women and girls in conflict environments and the equally unique role women and girls play in peacekeeping and post-conflict reconstruction of civil society. These themes will be discussed as warranted throughout the study. Finally, there is only now a clearly emerging sense of the definition and purpose of an FPU. The first FPUs were deployed to Kosovo under the UNMIK mission, and to East Timor (UNTAET) in 1999. FPUs are designed to be rapidly deployable, more heavily armed than regular UN police units (UNPOL, formerly CIVPOL), and more capable of independent operations. In short, FPUs are intended to respond to a wide range of contingencies spanning the spectrum of peace operations, but especially to be able to operate in high-risk environments. What differentiates an FPU from a standard UNPOL unit is that police in FPUs are recruited from a single-member state, and have trained together to operate as a coherent unit. Whereas UNPOL members are recruited individually and often deployed to UN missions as single members, by mandate FPUs cannot be deployed except as a full 120-140 person unit or in the smallest functional subset as a team of 10-12 officers. As a consequence of the increased operational effectiveness achieved through the particular recruitment and training model of FPUs they have generally been used for three high-risk mission-types. First, FPUs are considered a specialty force for managing public order. Examples of specific public order missions include riot control, crowd management at public assemblies, and the assurance of general public safety during potentially tense events like elections. Indeed, the core of the FPU mission can be thought of as assisting, “citizens to exercise their fundamental rights without any disturbance or unjustified hindrance and to prevent assemblies from threatening or actually harming public safety.” The second key FPU mission is the protection of UN personnel. This has included evacuations of personnel in extreme situations (post-election Cote d’Ivoire) and convoy protection (Congo). In addition, VIP and general facilities protection (prisons, warehouses, IDP camps, UN compounds) fall under this mission-rubric.3 Finally, FPUs are designed to assist local and UNPOL police with particularly high-risk operations. Such missions include high-visibility patrols (with local police, UNPOL or military peacekeepers) as in Congo, Haiti and Darfur; high-risk arrests; anti-organized crime work or SWAT and hostage negotiation operations. It is also important to note that FPUs distinguish themselves not just by this mission-set, but because they are able to perform the above while maintaining a strict code of respect for human rights law.

Details: Carlisle, PA: Peacekeeping & Stability Operations Institute The United States Army War College, 2012. 70p.

Source: PKSOI Papers: Internet Resource: Accessed October 26, 2016 at: www.dtic.mil

Year: 2012

Country: International

URL: www.dtic.mil

Shelf Number: 146011

Keywords:
Female Police
Peacekeeping
Police Units
Public Safety

Author: Cramer, Clayton E.

Title: Texas' Stand Your Ground Law: An Historical Perspective

Summary: In the aftermath of the Treyvon Martin shooting in Florida, Stand Your Ground laws have acquired an unsavory reputation. These laws and their close cousin, castle doctrine, have an interesting history, especially with respect to protecting victims of domestic violence. Texas' Stand Your Ground law differs substantially from that of Florida, with much greater restraints on use of deadly force.

Details: Presenting at Texas Bar Association CLE, Austin, September 2016 , 2016. 25p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 10, 2016 at: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2781099

Year: 2016

Country: United States

URL: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2781099

Shelf Number: 146678

Keywords:
Gun Policy
Gun Violence
Homicides
Public Safety
Self Defense
Stand Your Ground Law

Author: Lamb, Robert Dale

Title: Ungoverned Areas and Threats from Safe Havens

Summary: Individuals and groups who use violence in ways that threaten the United States, its allies, or its partners habitually find or create ways to operate with impunity or without detection. Whether for private financial gain (e.g., by narcotics and arms traffickers) or for harmful political aims (e.g., by insurgents, terrorists, and other violent extremists), these illicit operations are most successful "and most dangerous" when their perpetrators have a place or situation that can provide refuge from efforts to combat or counter them. Such places and situations are often called safe havens, and potential safe havens are sometimes called ungoverned areas. A key component of counterinsurgency, counterterrorism, counternarcotics, stabilization, peacekeeping, and other such efforts is to reduce the size and effectiveness of the safe havens that protect illicit actors. Agencies in defense, diplomacy, development, law enforcement, and other areas all have capabilities that can be applied to countering such threats and building the capacity and legitimacy of U.S. partners to prevent ungoverned, under-governed, misgoverned, contested, and exploitable areas from becoming safe havens. To do this effectively requires careful consideration of all the geographical, political, civil, and resource factors that make safe havens possible; a sober appreciation of the complex ways those factors interact; and deeper collaboration among U.S. government offices and units that address such problems - whether operating openly, discreetly, or covertly - to ensure unity of effort. This report offers a framework that can be used to systematically account for these considerations in relevant strategies, capabilities, and doctrines/best practices.

Details: Washington, DC: Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, 2008. 63p.

Source: Internet Resource: Final Report of the Ungoverned Areas Project: Accessed January 30, 2017 at: http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a479805.pdf

Year: 2008

Country: United States

URL: http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a479805.pdf

Shelf Number: 146248

Keywords:
Counter-terrorism
Drug Trafficking
Firearms Trafficking
Public Safety
Safe Havens
Violence
Violent Extremists

Author: U.S. National Institute of Justice

Title: Considerations and Recommendations for Implementing an Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Program

Summary: In Alameda County, California, an Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) program has supported law enforcement in successfully monitoring crime scenes and capturing suspects on the run. While these devices have been beneficial in assisting law enforcement in a number of ways, they've also raised concerns within the community about the possibility of police violating privacy rights through aerial surveillance. Alameda County isn’t alone in this situation. Law Enforcement agencies around the country are having similar discussions within their communities as they look to take advantage of the benefits of unmanned aerial vehicles while also ensuring the rights of the public are protected. In a new report, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) covers a number of emerging issues and concerns on the use of unmanned aircraft systems by state, local, and tribal law enforcement. "Considerations and Recommendations for Implementing an Unmanned Aircraft Systems Program" is based on an August 2015 convening of public safety stakeholders and aviation experts. The goal of the convening was to produce a blueprint for how law enforcement agencies can use unmanned aircraft systems most effectively, fairly, and transparently. This NIJ report highlights a number of actions that agencies can take internally and with the community as they implement a policy on unmanned aircraft systems. According to Mike O’Shea, a senior law enforcement program manager with NIJ, community acceptance is critical to just about every law enforcement initiative out there. “The transparency of what you’re doing as an agency can make a difference between whether or not the community accepts what you’re doing or doesn’t accept [it],” he said. “And in the case of unmanned aerial vehicles, one of the biggest challenges for law enforcement is getting public acceptance,” O’Shea added. With regards to engaging the community, it is recommended that agencies engage the community early on as this strategy is most effective at the beginning of the process of implementing a UAS program. Additionally, agencies are recommended to create a community advisory panel on the implementation of new technologies, such as UAS. “The public acceptance of technology is crucial to the implementation of unmanned aircraft systems,” O’Shea said. Recommendations also include that all members of the agency should be briefed on the capabilities and intended use of the technology so that there will be a common message when officials interact with the public. Promoting the responsible use of unmanned aircraft systems is critical, such that agencies using this technology have sound policies in place governing the collection, use, and retention of data, and to ensure that agencies are transparent in how they are using these systems. In terms of developing privacy policies, it’s important for an agency to fully understand the complex legal environment in which unmanned aerial vehicles operate. Furthermore, some states and localities have imposed more stringent requirements than federal law on the use of this technology by law enforcement. Unmanned aircraft systems have the potential to be a useful public safety tool, but the decision of whether and how it should be adopted is one that every law enforcement agency must make for itself, and that decision should be made in coordination with community members. These community decisions should consider privacy, civil rights, and civil liberties concerns. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, only about 350 law enforcement agencies in the U.S. had aviation programs in active use. The number has remained small due to a number of factors, including the substantial cost of starting and maintaining a program, and bureaucratic hurdles needed to approve the use of such technology. But as more agencies begin to experience the benefits of unmanned aerial vehicles, O'Shea believes the use of this technology will only expand moving forward.

Details: Washington, DC: NIJ, 2016. 102p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accesses March 27, 2017 at: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/250283.pdf

Year: 2016

Country: United States

URL: https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/250283.pdf

Shelf Number: 144840

Keywords:
Aerial Surveillance
Aircraft
Police Surveillance
Public Safety

Author: Helfgott, Jacqueline B.

Title: Seattle Police Department's Micro-Community Policing Plans Implementation Evaluation: Final Report

Summary: This report summarizes the results from a two-year implementation evaluation of the Seattle Police Department's Micro-Community Policing Plans (MCPP). The evaluation employed a mixed-method research design including participant observation, community focus groups, and the development and administration of the Seattle Public Safety survey. The results tell the story of the evolution of the Seattle Police Department's MCPP initiative and show how the collection of data on community perceptions of crime at the micro-community level provide a comprehensive assessment of the nature of crime in Seattle communities that can be used in conjunction with crime data to address public safety in Seattle. Implications for public safety and police-community engagement in Seattle and recommendations for further development of the SPD MCPP initiative are discussed.

Details: Seattle: Seattle University Center for the Study of Crime and Justice, 2017. 158p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed June 12, 2017 at: https://www.seattle.gov/Documents/Departments/Police/Reports/SPD-MCPP-Implementation-Evauation-Final-Report.pdf

Year: 2017

Country: United States

URL: https://www.seattle.gov/Documents/Departments/Police/Reports/SPD-MCPP-Implementation-Evauation-Final-Report.pdf

Shelf Number: 146068

Keywords:
Community Policing
Neighborhoods and Crime
Police-Citizen Interactions
Police-Community Relations
Public Safety

Author: Ojebode, A.

Title: Community-Based Crime Prevention Practices in El Salvador an Nigeria: Understanding Communities' Willingness to Act

Summary: The inability of many governments to provide adequate security for their citizens is a major reason behind the adoption of non-state approaches to crime prevention. These include community-based crime prevention (CBCP) projects and practices which form the focus of this study. As can be expected, there is wide variation in the structure, objectives and outcomes of CBCP projects and practices because they have been implemented in different social, political and cultural realities, including contexts where the severity of crime varies. Where crime is severe, it might be expected that it overpowers the resources and capacities of communities to respond. Yet, existing literature shows that in some communities members continue to act together to prevent or reduce crime even under these conditions. Why, then, are some communities able to withstand high rates of crime and others are not? Given that CBCP operates in contexts that are far from uniform, what can be learnt in terms of the factors that explain their success or failure? Our study seeks to answer this question through a comparative analysis of communities located in severe crime zones in El Salvador and Nigeria. These two countries demonstrate some of the highest crime rates in Africa and Latin America and their governments are actively seeking to adopt or expand community-based crime prevention practices. We investigated the interplay between severity of crime, level of trust, community participation, social ties and willingness to act as they define, explain and condition CBCP efforts in both countries. The study was conducted in fourteen communities; 7 with high levels of insecurity (4 in El Salvador and 3 in Nigeria) and 7 with low levels of insecurity (4 in El Salvador and 3 in Nigeria). A total of 560 survey questionnaires were administered in the two countries; 280 in communities with high levels and 280 in communities with low levels of crime. From this sample, only communities with a high presence of violent crime were selected for in-depth analysis, which focused on three dependent variables - trust, willingness to act and perception of insecurity - as well as three independent variables, namely severity of crime, social ties and state capacity. Though levels of crime and trust are high in both countries, willingness to act together, social ties and civic participation are higher in Nigeria than in El Salvador. Strong state presence in El Salvador partly explains the success of community-based crime prevention, while strong community coordination explains success in Nigeria. Communities in Nigeria deploy their collective action, social ties, trust and civic participation to prevent and control crimes. Importantly, communities with strong social ties withstand severe crime better than those without such ties. The study concludes that efforts aimed at improving CBCP in El Salvador should seek to strengthen and sustain social ties, collective action and civic participation, while in Nigeria state actors should seek to effectively complement on-going CBCP efforts. While El Salvador can learn from strong and successful CBCP efforts in Nigeria, the Nigerian government also needs to learn from El Salvador, the structure and operation of state actors in crime prevention.

Details: Lima, Peru: ELLA (Evidence and Lessons from Latin America:2017. 47p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed August 25, 2017 at: http://ella.practicalaction.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/CEP-Community-based-crime-prevention-practices.pdf

Year: 2017

Country: El Salvador

URL: http://ella.practicalaction.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/CEP-Community-based-crime-prevention-practices.pdf

Shelf Number: 146902

Keywords:
Community-Based Programs
Crime Prevention
Neighborhood Watch
Public Safety
Security Guards
Vigilante Groups

Author: Gentilini, Ugo

Title: Entering the City: Emerging Evidence and Practices with Safety Nets in Urban Areas

Summary: Most safety net programs in low and middle-income countries have hitherto been conceived for rural areas. Yet as the global urban population increases and poverty urbanizes, it becomes of utmost importance to understand how to make safety nets work in urban settings. This paper discusses the process of urbanization, the peculiar features of urban poverty, and emerging experiences with urban safety net programs in dozens of countries. It does so by reviewing multidisciplinary literature, examining household survey data, and presenting a compilation of case studies from a 'first generation' of programs. The paper finds that urban areas pose fundamentally different sets of opportunities and challenges for social protection, and that safety net programs are at the very beginning of a process of urban adaptation. The mixed-performance and preliminary nature of the experiences suggest to put a premium on learning and evidence-generation. This might include revisiting some key design choices and better connecting safety nets to spatial, economic and social services agendas compelling to urban areas.

Details: Washington, DC: World Bank Group, 2015. 190p.

Source: Internet Resource: Social Protection & Labor Discussion Paper no. 1504: Accessed October 7, 2017 at: http://pubdocs.worldbank.org/en/5841448382581833/Entering-the-City-Emerging-Evidence-and-Practices-with-Safety-Nets-in-Urban-Areas.pdf

Year: 2015

Country: International

URL: http://pubdocs.worldbank.org/en/5841448382581833/Entering-the-City-Emerging-Evidence-and-Practices-with-Safety-Nets-in-Urban-Areas.pdf

Shelf Number: 147607

Keywords:
Poverty
Public Safety
Slums
Urban Areas and Crime

Author: Wilson, Jeremy M.

Title: Public Safety Consolidation: A Multiple Case Study Assessment of Implementation and Outcome

Summary: The provision of public safety services is among the largest tasks local governments undertake. In 2011, local governments in the United States spent $125.7 billion on police ($83.5 billion) and fire ($42.3 billion) protection, more than they spent on any other function but education (Barnett and Vidal 2013). Managing these services is a complex task. About 80 to 85 percent of police and fire budgets are personnel costs (Wilson, Rostker, and Fan 2010; Schaitberger 2003). Collective bargaining agreements, federal and state compensation and labor laws and safety regulations, local legislation concerning minimum staffing, and other restrictions can reduce flexibility in managing these workforces, and public safety employees have received public support for maintaining levels of staffing and service. Budget pressures have further complicated the efforts of public safety agencies to improve their efficiency and effectiveness. The Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), for example, found that most police agencies had experienced budget cuts in the prior year, and 40 percent anticipated cuts in the coming one (2013). For many departments, these are ongoing challenges, dating at least to the Great Recession of 2008�09. Indeed, five years after the downturn, most municipal governments had not returned to their prior revenue and employment levels (House 2013). As cuts continue, many local governments have found that standard responses (e.g., reducing overtime, instituting special-service charges) have not been enough to reduce budgets. A traditional reluctance to cut public safety services has yielded to hiring freezes, layoffs, furloughs, or even disbanding of departments (COPS Office 2011; Melekian 2012; PERF 2010; Wilson, Dalton, et al. 2010). Many communities have also explored differing modes of service delivery. As indicated by growing numbers of media reports in recent years, more communities are seeking new ways to maintain public service delivery (Chermak, Scheer, and Wilson 2014). Among these have been greater sharing of services with other communities, contracting for services, and merging agencies, including consolidation of several agencies into a single, metropolitan-wide one. One approach, the focus of this report, has been to consolidate emergency medical services (EMS) and police and fire services within a single community into a public safety agency. Consolidation of police and fire services into a single agency can be traced to ancient Rome, where urban watchmen provided firefighting services at night and law enforcement services that the army was forbidden to provide by day (Morley and Hadley 2013). Consolidated public safety services were the norm in Great Britain, Germany, and Japan until World War II, when wartime nationalization forced the separation of fire and police services in Britain and Allied reconstruction separated them in Japan and Germany. In the United States, consolidation of police and fire services dates back at least a century. In 1911, the community of Grosse Pointe Shores, Michigan, merged its police and fire services to create what was perhaps the first public safety department in the United States (Matarese et al. 2007). Oakwood, Ohio, founded what appears to be the second such department in 1924 (City of Oakwood 2015). Sunnyvale, California, similarly consolidated a small professional police force and a volunteer fire force in 1950 (City of Sunnyvale 2005). Other public safety departments more than a half-century old include those in Butner, North Carolina; Oak Park, Michigan; and Beverly Hills, Michigan. Consolidation had a particular appeal in the 1950s among smaller communities seeking efficiency and cost effectiveness and to capitalize on existing volunteer safety programs (Ayres 1957). During the 1950s, consolidation tended to occur more in cities that had home-rule and city-manager forms of government. One cited reason for consolidation at the time was that while larger cities could achieve some efficiencies and forms of specialization in separate police and fire services, smaller agencies could not expect to achieve these. Hence, smaller agencies would turn to public safety consolidation to most easily achieve efficiencies. At the same time, smaller cities were more likely to have fewer crime and fire problems, possibly making them more suitable for public safety integration because of a smaller workload. The idea of public safety consolidation became somewhat controversial in the 1960s because of its implications for organized labor and staff training (Wall 1961). At that time, communities were integrating fire and safety services in order to offer fire services to fast-growing communities, to reduce work hours and personnel costs without losing services, and to provide both police and fire services to recently annexed areas that might not support separate police and fire services. At the same time, the International Association of Fire Fighters and the International Association of Fire Chiefs opposed such measures on the grounds that consolidating police and fire services would lead to inadequacies in both services. A survey of 369 cities with populations from 10,000 to 49,999 found city managers the most supportive of consolidation and fire chiefs the least supportive, with police chiefs more supportive than fire chiefs but less supportive than city managers (Bernitt 1962). Interest in consolidation intensified in the 1970s as citizens demanded more and better services without tax increases (Berenbaum 1977), just as they would in the first decade of the 21st century as state and local budgets faced their tightest budget restrictions in decades. Advocates for consolidation emphasized (1) developing a public safety culture rather than simply cross-training police and fire officers and (2) implementing consolidated operations that convert fire stations into public safety stations. They also sought to implement the model in medium-to-large cities while recognizing that the model might have particular appeal to smaller communities, particularly in rural areas seeking to maximize resources and provide as broad an array of services as possible (see Marenin and Copus 1991 on public safety consolidations in Alaska). An assessment of public safety consolidation in three North Carolina cities in the 1970s found advantages of more contact with the public, better response, better career opportunities, and cost effectiveness but disadvantages in dual supervision, conflicting opinions over flexibility, preferences among officers for police over fire duties, and perceptions that public safety promotion opportunities were limited (Lynch and Lord 1979).

Details: Washington, DC: Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, 2016. 84p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 20, 2018 at: https://ric-zai-inc.com/Publications/cops-p328-pub.pdf

Year: 2016

Country: United States

URL: https://ric-zai-inc.com/Publications/cops-p328-pub.pdf

Shelf Number: 149185

Keywords:
Consolidation
Costs of Criminal Justice
Police Administration
Police and Fire Consolidation
Police Consolidation
Public Safety

Author: Henning, Kris

Title: Community Attitudes Regarding Public Safety in Portland's Parkrose Neighborhood

Summary: The Portland Police Bureau (PPB) is partnering with Portland State University (PSU) and neighborhood groups to develop new strategies for improving public safety and police-community relations. The current initiative seeks to provide residents with greater voice in where police work in their neighborhood, what problems they address, and how they intervene. We also hope to provide residents, businesses, and community organizations with data they can use to leverage additional resources for improving public safety in their neighborhood. This report focuses on the Parkrose neighborhood. Parkrose is located in the Northeast section of Portland (i.e. North of Burnside Ave. and East of the Willamette River). PSU's Population Research Center estimates that there were 6,363 residents living in the neighborhood in 2010, a 5.5% increase from 2000. For additional information on the neighborhood, contact the Parkrose Neighborhood Association. In July 2016 all households in the Parkrose neighborhood were mailed a letter inviting the adult occupants to participate in an online survey. Additional invitations were delivered in-person by PPB officers and the link to the online survey was in several newsletters and community-oriented websites. The questionnaire asked residents to identify their primary public safety concerns, whether they supported or opposed various actions the city might take in responding to these problems, and for ideas on improving police-community relationships. Three hundred and forty-nine surveys were submitted and analyzed for this report. Key Findings - Social disorder (e.g., noise, squatters, trespassing, panhandlers, and prostitution) property crime, and drugs/alcohol were the top public safety concerns identified by Parkrose residents completing the online survey. - Respondents to the survey demonstrated a high degree of agreement regarding the areas within their neighborhood that have public safety concerns. This includes the corridors running east to west surrounding NE Sandy Blvd and NE Prescott St. - People from Parkrose who completed the survey feel considerably less safe walking alone in their neighborhood than the average city resident. Moreover, the majority of survey respondents reported that public safety in Parkrose had declined over the past 12 months. - The majority of respondents expressed confidence with the Portland Police and felt the Portland Police treat people in the neighborhood with respect. People felt this could continue to be strengthened through non-investigatory foot patrols, community meetings, and expanded police participation in community events.

Details: Portland, OR: Portland State University, 2017. 17p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 16, 2018 at: https://www.pdx.edu/criminology-criminal-justice/sites/www.pdx.edu.criminology-criminal-justice/files/PDF-Files/Research/PPB_PSU%20Public%20Safety%20Survey_Parkrose%202016_Final%20Report.pdf

Year: 2017

Country: United States

URL: https://www.pdx.edu/criminology-criminal-justice/sites/www.pdx.edu.criminology-criminal-justice/files/PDF-Files/Research/PPB_PSU%20Public%20Safety%20Survey_Parkrose%202016_Final%20Report.pdf

Shelf Number: 149503

Keywords:
Neighborhoods and Crime
Police Legitimacy
Police-Community Relations
Public Attitudes
Public Safety

Author: Stewart, Greg

Title: Community Attitudes Regarding Public Safety in Bend, Oregon

Summary: Bend, Oregon is the largest city in Deschutes County and the seventh largest city in Oregon. Portland State University's Population Research Center estimates that Bend had a population of 83,500 residents in 2016. Both the city and county as a whole have seen considerable growth over the past 10 years. The city's residential population rose 8.8% from 2010 while the county increased by 12.0%. The Bend Police Department (BPD) provides the city with 24/7/365 police services. In May of 2017 the BPD employed 94 sworn officers and 28 civilian staff distributed across three major divisions: Patrol, Investigations, and Support. BPD's Five-Year-Strategic Plan (2015 to 2020) calls for the agency to address two specific goals with regard to the community: 1) building trust and confidence in the BPD, and 2) increasing engagement with Bend's businesses, organizations, and residents. These goals are core principles of community policing, an organizational philosophy that seeks to proactively address conditions that give rise to crime, disorder, and fear by building problem-solving partnerships with community members. In early 2017, Chief Jim Porter and the BPD partnered with Portland State University's Criminology & Criminal Justice Department to conduct a survey of Bend residents. The purpose of the survey was to provide feedback on the agency's recent performance in achieving the community oriented goals of the strategic plan and to provide direction for the coming years. Key Findings - Most respondents to this survey reported feeling safe in their neighborhood, in the nearest park and in Downtown Bend during the daytime. Perceptions of safety were considerably lower at night for Downtown Bend and for the nearest park. - BPD received high performance ratings for being available when needed, dealing with problems that concern the community, and for reducing crime. Lower ratings were given for reducing traffic crashes. - Respondents reported a high level of confidence and trust in the BPD and the vast majority said they are willingness to work with the BPD to address public safety problems. - Nearly all of the respondents contacted by the BPD (i.e. given a traffic ticket or warning, interviewed regarding a crime, etc.) reported that they had been treated with respect, that the officer(s) involved listened to them, showed concern, and explained his/her actions. - Traffic offenses, harassment, and trespassing were the most frequently cited public safety issues for the past 12 months. Looking forward, however, residents cited violent crime, property crime, and traffic offenses as the top priorities for the coming year. - The majority of respondents support additional police patrols for evening hours and CCTV cameras to address problems downtown Bend.

Details: Portland, OR: Portland State University, 2017. 39p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 19, 2018 at: https://www.pdx.edu/criminology-criminal-justice/sites/www.pdx.edu.criminology-criminal-justice/files/PDF-Files/Research/PSU%20Public%20Safety%20Survey_Bend_2017_FINAL.pdf

Year: 2017

Country: United States

URL: https://www.pdx.edu/criminology-criminal-justice/sites/www.pdx.edu.criminology-criminal-justice/files/PDF-Files/Research/PSU%20Public%20Safety%20Survey_Bend_2017_FINAL.pdf

Shelf Number: 149505

Keywords:
Police Legitimacy
Police-Community Relations
Public Attitudes
Public Safety

Author: Perreault, Samuel

Title: Canadians' perceptions of personal safety and crime, 2014

Summary: A sense of personal safety has been intrinsically linked to a sense of well-being. Measures of safety are routinely included in key wellness indicators such as the Canadian Index of Wellbeing (University of Waterloo) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) Better Life Index. Several studies have also shown that a perceived lack of safety could have various adverse effects on individuals and communities. In particular, fear of crime can lead to withdrawal from community life and reduces social cohesion (Cobbina et al. 2008). It can also lead some people to adopt restrictive behaviours, such as avoiding certain places or not going out after a certain time. A sense of insecurity can also lead to increased spending to protect against crime or even be the reason that some people move away (Hale 1996). Finally, insecurity can have negative effects on physical and mental health and general well-being (Foster et al. 2014; Lorenc 2012; Adams and Serpe 2000). Research on sense of safety-or on the fear of crime-has also shown personal safety to be associated with far more than just fear of being a victim of crime. A sense of insecurity is generally a wide-ranging fear or anxiety linked to many personal and environmental factors (Farrall et al. 2009). Thus, a sense of safety is thought to be influenced by factors related to vulnerability: people whose risk of victimization is higher, or those who feel less able to defend themselves against or recover from the consequences of victimization (particularly women and the elderly) would have higher levels of fear (Sacco 1995; Covington and Taylor 1991; Killias 1990). The community in which a person lives can also have a significant impact on their sense of safety. There is general agreement that people who live in a place where neighbours know each other, help each other and trust each other have a greater sense of personal safety (Yuan and McNeeley 2017; Gibson et al. 2002; Sampson et al. 1997). Finally, the presence of social disorder and antisocial behaviours also seems to have an unsettling effect because these are indicators that more serious crimes might be committed or that the community or the police have been unable to adequately control deviant behaviour (Intravia et al. 2016; Fitzgerald 2008; Sampson et al. 1997).Note Since a sense of safety is only partly associated with actual levels of crime, it is important to measure it accurately and to understand factors that may contribute to a sense of safety. Research on the subject has shown that a sense of safety is a concept that can be expressed in different ways, and it is usually best to use more than one measure to better understand its nature, scope and key trends. This Juristat article outlines the main measures related to sense of safety included in the 2014 General Social Survey (GSS) on Canadians' Safety (Victimization) at the national, provincial, territorial, census metropolitan area and census agglomeration levels. It also presents the main characteristics associated with Canadians' sense of safety.

Details: Ottawa: Statistics Canada, 2017. 35o,

Source: Internet Resource: Juristat 37, no. 1: Accessed March 20, 2018 at: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/85-002-x/2017001/article/54889-eng.pdf

Year: 2017

Country: Canada

URL: http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/85-002-x/2017001/article/54889-eng.pdf

Shelf Number: 0

Keywords:
Fear of Crime (Canada)
Neighborhoods
Public Safety
Victimization
Victimization Surveys

Author: New York City Department of Investigation

Title: NYCHA Is Still Failing to Remove Dangerous Criminals from Public Housing

Summary: The New York City Housing Authority ("NYCHA") continues to allow criminals - including gang members, drug traffickers, and violent offenders - to reside in public housing. Despite a mandate to protect its 400,000 lawful tenants, NYCHA has failed to take meaningful steps, or to exercise the legal remedies already available, to remove dangerous offenders from public housing apartments. In December 2015, the New York City Department of Investigation ("DOI") issued a Report that highlighted the failure of the New York City Police Department ("NYPD") to comply with an internal NYPD Patrol Guide procedure known as "Cases For Legal Action," and a similar 1996 Memorandum of Understanding ("MOU") with NYCHA, both of which require NYPD to report to NYCHA arrests of NYCHA residents for certain violent or other serious crimes. The purpose of these policies is to enable NYCHA, the largest landlord in New York City, to undertake its critical obligation to maintain safety and security at public housing developments by staying apprised of criminal activity, removing criminal offenders when needed to protect public safety, and addressing physical security vulnerabilities. Additionally, the Report demonstrated that even when made aware of resident arrests, NYCHA often failed to take steps to remove criminal offenders from public housing and protect the overwhelming majority of law-abiding residents. The 2015 Report highlighted failures in the following areas: - NYPD had not fully upheld its commitment to share information with NYCHA about resident arrests on NYCHA grounds, in violation of both the MOU, and NYPD's Cases For Legal Action policy promulgated as Patrol Guide #214-07. - NYCHA was failing to use available tools, including a procedure known as "Permanent Exclusion," to ensure that criminal offenders who threatened their neighbors' safety or peaceful tenancy were removed from public housing. Through Permanent Exclusion, NYCHA may exercise its discretion to remove an individual criminal offender from public housing, and thus avoid eviction of the entire household. DOI found that NYCHA's enforcement of Permanent Exclusion was essentially toothless, thus frequently allowing criminal offenders to remain in or return to NYCHA housing without consequences. - DOI identified key flaws in NYCHA's systems to monitor and enforce Permanent Exclusion, including severe understaffing of investigative and legal staff, and inadequate safety equipment and protocols for field investigators. In the 2015 Report, DOI made nine Policy and Procedure Recommendations for improvement, which both NYPD and NYCHA accepted and agreed to implement. DOI has now conducted a follow-up investigation to check whether meaningful progress has been made to address the vulnerabilities highlighted in the 2015 Report and to make additional recommendations to ensure the safety of NYCHA tenants.

Details: New York: New York City Department of Investigation, 2017. 70p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 26, 2018 at: http://www1.nyc.gov/assets/doi/reports/pdf/2017/2017-03-28-NYCHAMOUreport.pdf

Year: 2017

Country: United States

URL: http://www1.nyc.gov/assets/doi/reports/pdf/2017/2017-03-28-NYCHAMOUreport.pdf

Shelf Number: 149899

Keywords:
Drug Traffickers
Gangs
Public Housing
Public Safety
Violent Offenders

Author: West, Darrell M.

Title: Benefits and Best Practices of Safe City Innovation

Summary: Public safety is an important aspect of contemporary life. In a world that is chaotic, dangerous, and volatile, it is hard for there to be economic prosperity and social cohesion without some degree of safety. People need security in order to live day-to-day and undertake business and communications. This is especially the case in regard to cities. According to UNICEF, 70 percent of people around the world will live in cities by the Cities face a variety of implementation challenges, such as poor funding, infrastructure difficulties, public resistance, a lack of technical expertise, and privacy and security concerns. Implementation of public safety solutions represents a major challenge in many different places, and it is crucial for leaders to overcome these barriers in order to achieve the benefits of public safety innovation. Solutions such as CCTV cameras, police body cameras, integrated command centers using broadband trunking, social media safety alerts, and predictive data analysis show great promise as tools for law enforcement. Many factors affect technology innovation in the public sector. This includes the level of financial investment, crime rates, safety considerations, openness to technology solutions, and the strength of the digital infrastructure in particular countries. But government policy is especially important because officials make investments that enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of public sector operations. The way in which they handle modernization strategies matters a lot in terms of innovation and service delivery. There are many opportunities for cities to build their economies and promote social inclusion through public safety innovation. Cities can encourage greater innovation by increasing budget investments in digital infrastructure, building public support, using crowd-sourcing platforms to encourage citizen participation, breaking down organizational stovepipes through technology, overcoming organizational resistance, making data openly available, deploying data analytics, integrating solutions, figuring out how to balance privacy and security concerns, and identifying opportunities for improvement.

Details: Washington, DC: Center for Technology Innovation (CTI) at Brookings, 2017. 58p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 26, 2018 at: https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/safe-city-innovation_final.pdf

Year: 2017

Country: International

URL: https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/safe-city-innovation_final.pdf

Shelf Number: 149914

Keywords:
Body-Worn Cameras
CCTV
Police Accountability
Police Technology
Police Use of Force
Policing
Public Safety
Public Security
Video Surveillance

Author: Milgram, Anne

Title: Integrated Health Care and Criminal Justice Data - Viewing the Intersection of Public Safety, Public Health, and Public Policy Through a New Lens: Lessons from Camden, New Jersey

Summary: At the intersection of public safety and public health lies the potential to view crime prevention through a new lens: the lens provided by analyzing integrated data from the many agencies that serve vulnerable populations. This study involved the integration of health care and criminal justice data for people who cycle in and out of hospitals and police precincts in Camden, New Jersey. Working pursuant to a grant from the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, researchers from the Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers (the Coalition) integrated existing data sets to break down traditional information silos, identifying and analyzing the experiences of people who showed an extreme number of contacts with both systems. By analyzing these cross-sector data, Coalition researchers found that a small number of Camden residents have an enormous and disproportionate impact on the health care and criminal justice sectors, neither of which is designed to address the underlying problems they face: housing instability, inconsistent or insufficient income, trauma, inadequate nutrition, lack of supportive social networks, But the study's potential impact goes well beyond the identification of a population that frequently cycles through the health care and criminal justice systems. Cross-sector data offer a more holistic view of the challenges these individuals face, telling a different story than the one we typically hear - a story with far-reaching public policy implications. When we overlay data to view the trajectories of lives through consecutive cross-sector contacts, we begin to see that crime most often happens after, and not before, contacts with hospitals and other government agencies. During these earlier encounters, we could find potential markers that would allow us to identify individuals at risk of future criminal justice involvement. In large part because agencies are not sharing data in the collaborative ways needed to gain a holistic understanding of individuals, opportunities to intervene earlier in their trajectories are lost. Most interventions to prevent recidivism currently occur during the community corrections and re-entry phases, well after a crime has happened and the individual's case has ended. The study suggests that we should shift from a mindset of reacting to immediate health and crime crises as distinct events to focusing on holistic approaches that result in better individual outcomes, increased public safety, and reduced system costs. The holistic view provided by integrated data will allow researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to design earlier interventions to prevent crime and the avoidable use of jails and emergency departments. The Coalition's researchers plan to design and test such interventions in the next phase of this study. This paper is organized in two parts. Part I sets out the Camden study's key findings from the analysis of integrated hospital and police data: - A small percentage of arrestees account for a disproportionate share of total arrests. - There is a relationship between high use of hospital emergency departments (EDs) and frequent arrests. - A small subset of 226 individuals had extreme numbers of contacts with both hospital EDs and police. Part II outlines the potential impact of integrated data analysis on public safety, public health, and public policy: - Cross-sector data that look beyond the criminal justice system, including data on health, housing, employment, and other socio-economic characteristics, provide a holistic view of individuals and their contacts with multiple systems over time.

Details: Cambridge, MA: Harvard Kennedy School, Program in Criminal Justice Policy and Management, 2018. 22p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 4, 2018 at: https://www.hks.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/centers/wiener/programs/pcj/files/integrated_healthcare_criminaljustice_data.pdf

Year: 2018

Country: United States

URL: https://www.hks.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/centers/wiener/programs/pcj/files/integrated_healthcare_criminaljustice_data.pdf

Shelf Number: 150062

Keywords:
Collaboration
Health Care
Partnerships
Public Health
Public Safety

Author: Morgan, Anthony

Title: Reducing crime in public housing areas through community development: An evaluation of the High Density Housing Program in the ACT

Summary: The High Density Housing Program (HDHP) is a collaborative program involving Reclink Australia, the Australian Capital Territory Justice and Community Safety Directorate (JACS), ACT Housing, ACT Health and ACT Policing. It involves the application of community development approaches to prevent crime and antisocial behaviour at Ainslie Avenue, a large public housing area in the ACT comprising six (previously seven) blocks. An on-the-ground manager (OTGM), employed by Reclink Australia, maintains a continuing presence across the site, coordinating existing services to residents and introducing new events, activities and programs that provide opportunities for resident interaction and relationship building and that address the needs of residents. The HDHP draws on Australian research evidence that showed social approaches to crime prevention, including community development, can improve neighbourhood cohesion and are associated with reduced crime (Samuels et al. 2004). The HDHP has four primary objectives. I t aims to promote community safety and security, prevent and reduce opportunities for crime in public housing sites and surrounding areas, develop pro-social and law abiding community engagement among residents and facilitate and support residents' access to health, mental health, education and employment services. The evaluation of the HDHP employed a rigorous quasi-experimental design which enabled changes in recorded assaults and property crime, disturbance incidents and ambulance attendances at Ainslie Avenue to be compared with those of another public housing area that shared similar characteristics. This component of the evaluation also examined whether there had been any displacement or diffusion of benefit to surrounding areas. A cost-benefit analysis (CBA) compared the cost of the program with monetised benefits associated with changes in recorded crime rates. This was supported by analysis of data collected by the OTGM on program delivery and in-depth interviews with 15 residents about their experiences of the program and living at Ainslie Avenue.

Details: Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology, 2018.

Source: Internet Resoruce: Research Report 06: Accessed May 7, 2018 at: https://aic.gov.au/publications/rr/rr6

Year: 2018

Country: Australia

URL: https://aic.gov.au/publications/rr/rr6

Shelf Number: 150070

Keywords:
Communities and Crime
Crime Displacement
Crime Prevention
Housing Developments
Neighborhoods and Crime
Public Housing
Public Safety

Author: London Assembly. Economy Committee

Title: Rewrite the night: the future of London's night-time economy

Summary: London's night-time economy (NTE) is evolving. Bars, clubs and pubs have long been at the centre of night-time activity. But over the past decade, the capital's NTE has developed. The sheer volume and variety of entertainment and activities are a strong draw for residents, workers and over 31 million visitors to the capital each year. The launch of Night Tube services in summer 2016, followed by a night service on the London Overground network last December, has made it easier for people to travel around the capital at night. This, plus the introduction of 24-hour alcohol licensing, has earned London the right to be considered a 24-hour city, and brought the NTE in line with its European counterparts. However, the NTE could be further developed in terms of job creation, the range of cultural activity and the numbers and diversity of people enjoying nights out in the capital. London's NTE extends far beyond entertainment and leisure activities, and includes the many everyday jobs undertaken by cleaners, drivers, security and health personnel, for example, which are vital to its continued success. Developing the NTE will require a longer-term strategic outlook shaped by the Mayor, working with many partners. People who work in the NTE, use it, live around it, run the businesses operating during the night, and are involved in planning future development and managing the impacts, must be listened to. Looking after the welfare of night-time workers will be paramount. Their employment rights and workplace benefits will need to match those of workers in the day-time economy. At the very least they deserve the right to fair pay, a safe working environment, and access to safe transport options to and from work. The wellbeing of individuals on a night out should also be prioritised, driven by a broader national campaign to inspire more responsible alcohol consumption and to provide the support both they and pub and bar workers need. Residents should be properly included in discussions, locally and at a panLondon level, about planning the NTE as it develops, and how best to manage and respond to any impacts before they become problems. At times, these discussions will need to happen across borough boundaries and through well-established networks where the views of businesses, grassroots music venues, arts practitioners, residents, the police and local authority officers can be heard. These networks will help facilitate the more coordinated approach to regulating, licensing and public safety needed in the NTE across London. London's NTE must continue to diversify as it develops. It will mean being creative about content, welcoming of different genres of music, and appealing to more Londoners. Many varied and innovative things are happening in outer London boroughs. They too will need to be central to the Mayor's vision for the NTE. This will require an inclusive approach to marketing and promotion along with improvements to transport links in outer London boroughs at night. One simple measure would be to ensure that outer London events are featured and promoted in major listing publications across the capital, by London and Partners and on social media. The Mayor is rightly committed to turning London into a 24-hour city and this will need to be overseen at a London-wide level. This could usefully be delivered by permanently establishing roles for an individual, such as the Night Czar to promote and champion the NTE, and a policy-focused body, such as the Night Time Commission. The Mayor must build on his night vision document published in July 2017, and clarify how his plans for a more diverse NTE will be implemented, what the key milestones will be, and how he intends to measure the impact and progress of his work. A more diverse London NTE is to be welcomed, but it must be open to all Londoners - affordable, accessible, inclusive - and be a safe environment to enjoy a night out, and work in.

Details: London: The Assembly, 2018. 49p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 24, 2018 at: https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/rewrite_the_night_final.pdf

Year: 2018

Country: United Kingdom

URL: https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/rewrite_the_night_final.pdf

Shelf Number: 150352

Keywords:
Alcohol Related Crime, Disorder
Assaults
Disorderly Conduct
Licensed Premises
Night-Time Economy
Public Safety

Author: Arredondo Sanchez Lira, Jaime

Title: Mapping violence: homicides trends in Mexico and Brazil 1990-2010

Summary: Latin America has become one of the most violent regions in the world. Public Safety is now among the principal citizen's demands in some of those countries. This paper begins with a consideration of the role of police in answering the demand for public safety by local populations, and its role as a tool for exercising the state's monopoly of legitimate violence within a territory. Two relevant countries in the region, Brazil and Mexico, have undertaken police reform throughout these two decades, emphasizing lately a combination of new social and policing strategies. However, public opinion and the demand for solutions vary accordingly to changes in general crime trends; previous studies have used a methodology to understand such phenomenon. Homicides provide a good indicator of violence, since its measurement is based upon a common international methodology of mortality public health data. This research develops a new comparison approach that takes into account national tendencies, historical averages and the stability across time of homicides rates at the federal state level in Mexico and Brazil. These trends draw a general picture of violence that is helpful for future public policy discussions. The correlation between violence levels and stability of crime hold for the Brazilian case but not for Mexico, where we can observe a shift of violence to federal Border States and cities. The lack of proper crime statistics and a more detailed conceptualization of reform efforts should be address in future studies to fully understand regional tendencies and tailor local solutions.

Details: San Diego: University of California, San Diego, 2012. 76p.

Source: Internet Resource: Thesis: Accessed June 20, 2018 at: https://cloudfront.escholarship.org/dist/prd/content/qt4bd8c6p9/qt4bd8c6p9.pdf?t=msz23w

Year: 2012

Country: Latin America

URL: https://cloudfront.escholarship.org/dist/prd/content/qt4bd8c6p9/qt4bd8c6p9.pdf?t=msz23w

Shelf Number: 150596

Keywords:
Crime Trends
Homicides
Police Reform
Public Safety
Violence
Violent Crime

Author: Skinnari, Johanna

Title: Perceptions of the justice system in socially disadvantaged areas

Summary: Bra has been instructed by the government to study confidence in the justice system, and the sense of safety among residents in areas which the police identify as socially disadvantaged. Socially disadvantaged areas are characterized by, among other things, a large percentage of residents with low socioeconomic status, and criminal elements that have significant impact on the local community. According to the police, particularly socially disadvantaged areas are characterised by criminal presence, which has led to a widespread reluctance to participate in the criminal justice process, resulting in difficulties for the police to perform their duty. The study is partially based on processed NTU1 data for the police's 61 socially disadvantaged areas. It is also based on a door-to-door survey2 with residents, association representatives, municipal employees, and police in a number of socially disadvantaged areas. The study illuminates problems in the investigated areas that must be seen as exceptional in relation to most other residential areas. There are open sales of narcotics, vandalism, littering, and traffic offences affecting the residential environment. Some of the areas are periodically subject to very serious violent criminality. Crime and public disorder have a negative impact on the residents' sense of safety and image of the police. There are also signs of structures, mainly criminal, that run parallel with, for example, the justice system. At the same time, when considering crime rates and confidence in the justice system, the results of the NTU processing do not indicate any general deterioration in the 61 areas over time. However, many residents - including those who feel relatively safe - talk about the impact on their everyday life in the interviews. Many also communicate a general feeling that their area is forgotten or treated differently than other areas, or society as a whole.

Details: Stockholm: Swedish National Council for Crime Prevention (Bra), 2018. 180p.

Source: Internet Resource: Report 2018:12: Accessed July 9, 2018 at: https://www.bra.se/download/18.c4ecee2162e20d258c31499/1528197570060/2018_12_Perceptions_of_the_justice_system_in_socially_disadvantaged_areas.pdf

Year: 2018

Country: Sweden

URL: https://www.bra.se/download/18.c4ecee2162e20d258c31499/1528197570060/2018_12_Perceptions_of_the_justice_system_in_socially_disadvantaged_areas.pdf

Shelf Number: 150782

Keywords:
Disadvantaged Areas
Fear of Crime
Neighborhoods and Crime
Public Safety
Socioeconomic Conditions and Crime

Author: Human Rights Watch

Title: Immigrant Crime Fighters: How the U Visa Program Makes US Communities Safer

Summary: The Trump administration has painted undocumented immigrants in the US as criminals and a threat to public safety. Little has been said about the many undocumented immigrants who have taken great risks to help law enforcement investigate and prosecute crimes. Immigrant Crime Fighters highlights just a few examples of immigrants who have bravely stepped forward to ensure serial rapists, robbers, and violent criminals are brought to justice, despite risks to themselves. The report focuses on recipients of the U visa, which exists to ensure that otherwise undocumented immigrants who assist in the investigation or prosecution of serious crimes are protected from deportation. Without it, perpetrators can target undocumented victims without fear that they will go to police. The report draws heavily on interviews with law enforcement officials from five states, who consistently emphasized that the U visa is essential to ensuring that everyone in the community can safely report crimes. They see the visa as a critical tool in ensuring broader public safety. The U visa, created with strong bipartisan support as part of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) in 2000, is up for renewal in 2018. Congress should protect and expand these immigration protections and work to eliminate the multi-year backlog of victims awaiting consideration of their applications.

Details: New York: HRW, 2018. 49p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed july 9, 2018 at: https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/us0718_web.pdf

Year: 2018

Country: United States

URL: https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/report_pdf/us0718_web.pdf

Shelf Number: 150786

Keywords:
Immigrants
Immigration Enforcement
Immigration Policy
Public Safety
Undocumented Immigrants
Visa Program

Author: Esberg, Jane

Title: Explaining Misperceptions of Crime

Summary: Promoting public safety is a central mandate of government. But despite decades of dramatic improvements, most Americans believe crime is rising - a mysterious pattern that may pervert the criminal justice policymaking process. Why do Americans think crime is worsening? We test four plausible explanations: survey mismeasurement, extrapolation from local conditions, lack of exposure to facts and partisan cues. Cross-referencing over a decade of crime records with geolocated polling data and original survey experiments, we show individuals readily update beliefs when presented with accurate crime statistics, but this effect is attenuated when statistics are embedded in a typical crime news article, and confidence in perceptions is diminished when a copartisan elite undermines social statistics. We conclude Americans misperceive crime because of the frequency and manner with which they encounter relevant statistics. Our results suggest widespread misperceptions are likely to persist barring foundational changes in Americans' information consumption habits, or elite assistance.

Details: Princeton, NJ: Princeton University, 2018. 45p.

Source: Internet Resource: accessed July 27, 2018 at: https://scholar.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/jmummolo/files/esberg_mummolo_ms_share.pdf

Year: 2018

Country: United States

URL: https://scholar.princeton.edu/sites/default/files/jmummolo/files/esberg_mummolo_ms_share.pdf

Shelf Number: 150943

Keywords:
Media and Crime
Public Opinion
Public Safety

Author: Gettinger, Dan

Title: Drones at Home

Summary: Drones are no longer a novelty item among law enforcement and public safety departments. The same small unmanned aircraft systems that have been popular among hobbyists and commercial users are now sought after by a growing number of agencies throughout the United States. Our research suggests that at least 347 state and local police, sheriff, fire, and emergency units have acquired drones in the past several years. More acquisitions took place in 2016 than in the previous years combined, and the pace of acquisitions shows no signs of slowing down. In a survey of open source literature and public records, we have assembled the most comprehensive, publicly-available account of law enforcement and public safety departments that are reported to have acquired drones. Key Takeaways At least 347 state and local police, sheriff, fire, and emergency units in the U.S. have acquired drones. Local law enforcement departments lead public safety drone acquisitions. Consumer drones are more common among public safety units than specialized professional drones.

Details: New York: Center for the Study of Drone, 2017. 12p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed September 9, 2018 at: http://dronecenter.bard.edu/drones-at-home/

Year: 2017

Country: United States

URL: http://dronecenter.bard.edu/public-safety-drones/

Shelf Number: 151460

Keywords:
Drones
Law Enforcement
Public Safety

Author: Plan International

Title: Unsafe in the City: Sydney

Summary: Free to Be is a crowd-mapping website that enables young women to identify and share the location of public spaces that make them feel uneasy and scared or happy and safe, implemented in Sydney in April-May 2018. It was designed in collaboration with Crowdspot, Monash University XYX Lab and young women within the city. Based on Plan International's extensive experience of working with girls and young women in cities through our Safer Cities programme, the research sought to understand more about the experiences of girls and young women. As well as Sydney, Free to Be has been implemented in Delhi, Kampala, Lima, Madrid and Melbourne. The Free to Be tool comprised an interactive map of the city and a survey which allowed girls and young women to drop 'pins' on the map - good or bad - and answer questions about their experiences there, as well as leave comments. A group of young women in Sydney were involved in the design and promotion of the tool, as well as having an opportunity to reflect on the findings to support analysis. In total, 2,083 pins were dropped on spots of the Sydney map, of which 25% denoted good experiences (516) and 75% bad (1,567). Good places were characterised by being busy, often with working people. This was closely followed by the place having a good 'community environment' or being well known to the participant. The threat of sexual harassment with and without physical contact was the main issue identified in connection with bad pins. Over two-thirds of the comments on bad pins included sexual harassment of some kind and 63% of all the pins identified gender-based discrimination as a factor. Discrimination based on ethnicity was identified in 10% of the pins (the highest of all the cities), usually alongside gender discrimination, highlighting the intersectional nature of discrimination and harassment in Sydney. On the street was the most likely location for bad pins, often alongside to/from work or school and public transport. Strong negative clusters tended to form around train stations and bus interchanges. These data demonstrate the compromised freedom for young women and girls moving around their city. Harassment directed at young women and girls, and especially those of the LGBTIQA community, is apparently exacerbated by the lockout laws in Sydney, and the lack of public transport available at corresponding hours. This indicates the complexity of access to, and safety in, the city - an intervention brought in to protect one part of the community increased the pressure on others. Women and girls change their behaviour in response to these challenges: nearly half of those recording bad pins (47%) avoided the area if they were alone and 12% simply never went back to the location. When asked how they responded to bad incidents, 20 participants reported that they stopped studying or quit their job because of their experiences. For more than a third of all the pins (36%), young women were resigned to the fact that such incidents are so frequent that they are used to it. Consequently, they take their own precautions such as walking fast through such areas with their phones at the ready. Reporting of events to the authorities was low at 9%, and in more than two-thirds of these cases (69%), the authorities apparently did nothing. Based on these findings, young women in Sydney made the following recommendations: 1) Behaviour change: - Changing the blame culture: listen to and act upon the stories of women and girls - Challenging toxic masculinity - Allies and bystanders: empowering them to call out harassment and intervene safely 2) Girls' participation in decision-making: listen to and work with girls and young women, respect their experiences and recommendations, and involve them in co-designing their cities. 3) Enforcement and accountability: - Strengthening reporting mechanisms - Improving the responsiveness of security services and the police - Clarification of laws and enforcement regarding street harassment

Details: Melbourne: Plan International, 2018. 21p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed November 3, 2018 at: http://apo.org.au/system/files/196691/apo-nid196691-1025636.pdf

Year: 2018

Country: Australia

URL: http://apo.org.au/system/files/196691/apo-nid196691-1025636.pdf

Shelf Number: 153246

Keywords:
Crime Analysis
Crime Hotspots
Crime Mapping
Fear of Crime
Public Safety
Sexual Assault
Sexual Harassment
Violence Against Women

Author: Gaston, Sophia

Title: Out of the Shadows: Conspiracy Thinking on Immigration

Summary: Out of the Shadows: Conspiracy Thinking on Immigration, a major new report by Sophia Gaston of the Centre for Social and Political Risk at the Henry Jackson Society, is published today. Polling conducted for the report shows 58% of British adults believe the Government is hiding the cost of immigration to taxpayers and society. The report finds that the rise in immigration levels and the public's concerns about immigration have coincided with the weakening of trust in governments and institutions. These forces are mutually reinforcing, with politicians seen to have systematically ignored and disregarded citizens' anxieties, challenging the contract that stands at the heart of Western democracies. The think tank undertook polling with Opinium to understand the number of British voters who had resorted to 'conspiratorial thinking' over the issue of immigration. Key findings were: - 58 percent of all British citizens believe the Government is hiding the true cost of immigration to taxpayers and society. Only 12% disagree with the contention that the Government is hiding these costs. - 51 percent of all Brits believe that successive governments have deliberately tried to make British society more diverse through its immigration policy. Of those who expressed a view, 59 percent believe that those who have spoken out about immigration in the media and politics have been treated unfairly. In a signal of how mainstream conspiracy thinking on immigration has become, 40 percent of Remain voters and 49 percent of Labour voters believe that the Government is concealing the economic and social costs of immigration. The report comes as Theresa May and her Government are scheduled to continue their promotion of the Withdrawal Bill by promoting it as a 'step change' on immigration policy. The report finds that distrust over immigration is far higher amongst Leave voters. 75 percent of Leave voters believe the Government is hiding the true costs of immigration - just 4 percent are convinced that the Government is not. Likewise, 65 percent of Leave voters believe that those who had spoken out on immigration had been treated unfairly. In news that will trigger alarm bells amongst Tory MPs, 62 percent of Conservative voters believe that the aim of Government policy over recent years had been to 'make Britain more ethnically diverse'.

Details: London, U.K.: Centre for Social and Political Risk, 2018. 60p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed December 18, 2018 at: https://henryjacksonsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Out-of-the-Shadows-Conspiracy-thinking-on-immigration.pdf

Year: 2018

Country: International

URL: https://henryjacksonsociety.org/publications/out-of-the-shadows-conspiracy-thinking-on-immigration/

Shelf Number: 154036

Keywords:
Government Conspiracy
Illegal Immigration
Immigration
Immigration Policy
Public Safety

Author: Apperloo, Esther

Title: Onveiligheid Stoppen, Bij Het Shoppen...: Onderzoek naar de Invloed van Toezicht in Winkelgebieden op de Veiligheidsbeleving van Mensen (Stop Insecurity, When Shopping ...: Investigation of the Influence of Supervision in Shopping Areas on the Safety Expe

Summary: Background information Dutch municipalities have introduced camera surveillance in public spaces with different objectives, namely prevention of crime and nuisance, the timely identification of threatening security problems and the collection of offender information that can improve the investigation (Homburg et al., 2012). The most important goals are maintaining and supervising public order and increasing the safety of citizens (Schreijenberg, Koffijberg & Dekkers, 2009). The introduction of CCTV is mainly justified by two assumed effects, namely the increase of objective safety through situational prevention and the enhancement of subjective safety (Geelhoed, 2005). There is a question of increasing objective safety when crime actually falls. Increased subjective safety occurs when people feel safer because of the presence of the cameras, regardless of whether it has become safer in the objective sense (Van Eijk et al., 2006).

Details: Enschede, Netherlands: Universiteit Twente, 2015. 73p.

Source: Internet Resource (in Dutch): Accessed January 12, 2019 at: https://anzdoc.com/onderzoeks-en-adviesgroep-politie.html

Year: 2015

Country: Netherlands

URL: https://anzdoc.com/onderzoeks-en-adviesgroep-politie.html

Shelf Number: 154085

Keywords:
Camera Surveillance
CCTV
Crime Prevention
Netherlands
Public Order Maintenance
Public Safety
Situational Crime Prevention

Author: Victoria State Government

Title: Community Safety Trustee Progress Report - June 2017: First Report on the Implementation of the Community Safety Statement

Summary: Introduction On 7 December 2016, the Government released the first ever Community Safety Statement for Victoria. The Community Safety Statement 2017 (CSS) sets out a law and order plan for the state accompanied by new investment in excess of two billion dollars, including the largest investment in additional police in the history of the police force. The overall objective of the CSS is clear � to make Victoria safer. While acknowledging the independence of the Chief Commissioner of Police, the CSS also holds Victoria Police and the Government to account for the record investment, committing them to deliver on specific priorities to keep the community safe. The Government has said that its five community safety priorities are: 1. Reducing harm 2. Increasing connection to the community 3. Putting victims first 4. Holding offenders to account 5. Improving Victoria Police capability, culture and technology. The CSS is an agreement between the Government and the Chief Commissioner, signed by all parties, to deliver on the priorities and commitments as set out in the statement. Further detail on the priorities can be found in Appendix A. The CSS investment will be delivered from 1 July 2017 over a four year period, and throughout this time the statement will remain a living document. New statements will be released annually to report on progress and build on the Government's community safety agenda. Engagement with the community over this time will provide important input into future statements. Further supporting accountability, the CSS sets out the specific outcomes the Government wants to achieve within each of the priority areas. This is accompanied by a set of measures to track progress and monitor the difference that implementation of commitments within the statement makes over time. While I applaud the transparency and desire for real change behind this approach, my initial view is that some of the accountability measures could be more robust. I await the Government's next statements with a particular interest in this progress reporting and how effective it is in demonstrating the changes in policing that the CSS commits to achieving. As is acknowledged in the statement, the existing measures may benefit from some refinement over time. While the CSS is new for Victoria, New Zealand Police�s annual Statements of Intent represent an excellent example of the future potential of the CSS. Over a ten year period, New Zealand Police Statements of Intent have demonstrated the capacity for the maturation of policing strategy, during which New Zealand has achieved impressive results in crime reduction. I encourage the Government to continue to look to New Zealand to build the sophistication of the CSS over time, particularly in relation to the setting of specific targets for achievement.

Details: Victoria, Australia: Victoria State Government, 2017. 25p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 23, 2019 at: https://apo.org.au/sites/default/files/resource-files/2017/07/apo-nid97871-1160936.pdf

Year: 2017

Country: Australia

URL: https://apo.org.au/sites/default/files/resource-files/2017/07/apo-nid97871-1160936.pdf

Shelf Number: 154360

Keywords:
Australia
Community Engagement
Community Policing
Community Safety Statement
Police
Policing
Public Safety

Author: Urban-Econ Development Economists Pty Ltd

Title: Car Guard/ Watch Industry Consumer Survey 2018

Summary: Introduction Urban-Econ Development Economists were commissioned by the Private Security Industry Regulatory Authority (PSiRA) to conduct a survey of consumers throughout South Africa that utilise car guard or watch services and entities that employ car watch services at their facilities. The purpose of the research study is to survey the consumers of the car guard or car watch industry in terms of the level of satisfaction for services rendered, their knowledge of the requirements of compliance and the impact this has on their safety and security. The research findings are based on primary data collected during the surveys, from which certain recommendations have been provided for the PSiRA and the security industry. Project Brief The outcome of the study is focused on providing an analysis of consumer knowledge regarding the security compliance requirements by PSiRA and the overall impact that car guards have on safety and security. Therefore, in order to obtain relevant information, questionnaires were circulated to consumers that utilise car guard/ watch services throughout South Africa to gain valuable input from these individuals or entities.

Details: Pretoria, South Africa: Urban-Econ Development Economists Pty Ltd, 2018. 50p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 17, 2019 at: https://www.psira.co.za/psira/dmdocuments/research/PSiRA%20Car%20Guard%20Report%20(003).pdf

Year: 2018

Country: South Africa

URL: https://www.psira.co.za/psira/dmdocuments/research/PSiRA%20Car%20Guard%20Report%20(003).pdf

Shelf Number: 154991

Keywords:
Car Guards
Public Safety
Public Security
South Africa
Watch Service

Author: Felbab-Brown, Vanda

Title: AMLO's Security Policy: Creative Ideas, Tough Reality

Summary: EXECUTIVE SUMMARY -- - Improving public safety, especially reducing Mexico's soaring murder rate, is the toughest challenge of Mexico's new president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador (known as AMLO). - In November 2018, AMLO unveiled his National Peace and Security Plan 2018-2024, describing it as predominantly focused on the roots of insecurity, as opposed to confronting drug trafficking organizations (DTOs). The plan combines anti-corruption measures; economic policies; enhanced human rights protections; ethics reforms; public health, including treatment for drug use and exploration of drug legalization; transitional justice and amnesty for some criminals; and broader peace-building, to include traditional anti-crime measures such as prison reform and security sector reform, plus a new law enforcement force, the National Guard. - Various elements of his announced new security strategy-such as the formation of the National Guard - remain questionable and unclear and are unlikely to reduce violence quickly. - AMLO's proffered security strategy will likely create friction with the United States. Jointly countering fentanyl smuggling, however, could provide one venue of U.S.- Mexico cooperation. Corruption and Mexico's justice system - Combatting corruption is a foundational element of AMLO's security policy, and his administration has adopted a wide set of anti-corruption measures, including highly controversial and questionable ones. - However, AMLO has yet to appoint a dedicated anti-corruption prosecutor, make appointments to the National Anti-Corruption System, and support the 2016 National Anti-Corruption System reform. - AMLO has not broken with politically powerful and immensely corrupt unions, proposing instead to reverse reforms and lay off 70 percent of non-unionized federal workers. - It remains unclear whether AMLO will empower Mexico's civil society-crucial for reducing corruption-or continually define it as his antagonist. - AMLO's administration has not yet focused sufficiently on implementing the judicial reform by properly implementing the new prosecutorial system. - The administration has emphasized minimizing salary differences between public ministries, federal judges, prosecutors, and police officials. The weakness of prosecutors and their lack of cooperation with law enforcement and judges have been key stumbling blocks, keeping prosecution rates abysmally low. However, minimizing salary differences is inadequate. - Deleteriously, AMLO has refused to allow the independent selection of an autonomous attorney general. Focus on brutal crimes instead of drug trafficking groups and rejection of high-value targeting - The AMLO administration suspended focus on DTOs, drug trafficking, and high-value targeting of DTO leaders. Instead, it prioritizes "brutal crimes." But that strategy ignores the fact that key perpetrators of homicides, extortion, and robberies are DTOs. - Large law enforcement deployments to Tijuana and efforts to combat fuel theft have been interpreted by DTOs as direct confrontation. Instead, AMLO should prioritize targeting the most violent criminal groups, while deterring new outbreaks of violence. - The target should be the middle operational layer of a criminal group, seeking to disable the vast majority of the middle layer in one sweep, in order to reduce the group's regeneration capacity. - The Mexican government remains challenged in implementing such a policy by the continual lack of strategic and tactical intelligence in an ever more fragmented, mult-ipolar, and opaque criminal market, and by the continual corruption of Mexico's law enforcement apparatus. The National Guard -- - AMLO has not stopped using the Mexican military for domestic law enforcement. However, he has created a new structure combining military forces with Federal Police forces-The National Guard. - To be completed in three years, the National Guard is to be 150,000-strong. Sent initially to 17 areas with high homicide rates, the first contingent of 50,000 is to start functioning by April 2019. The head of the National Guard is a civilian, but much of the leadership is military....

Details: Washington, DC: Foreign Policy at Brookings Institute, 2019. 50p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed March 27, 2019 at: https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/FP_20190325_mexico_anti-crime.pdf

Year: 2019

Country: Mexico

URL: https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/FP_20190325_mexico_anti-crime.pdf

Shelf Number: 155191

Keywords:
Criminal Justice Policy
Criminal Justice System
Drug Trafficking
Homicides
National Security
Political Corruption
Public Safety
Security Forces
Violent Crimes

Author: Redcross, Cindy

Title: Evaluation of Pretrial Justice System Reforms That Use the Public Safety Assessment Effects in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina

Summary: Arnold Ventures' Public Safety Assessment (PSA) is a pretrial risk assessment tool that uses nine factors from a defendant's history to produce two risk scores: one representing the likelihood of a new crime being committed and another representing the likelihood of a failure to appear for future court hearings. The PSA also notes if there is an elevated risk of a violent crime. The PSA is designed to provide additional information to judges and others making release decisions - decisions about whether a defendant will be released while waiting for a case to be resolved, and if so, under what conditions. The score is used in conjunction with a jurisdiction-specific decision-making framework that uses the defendant's PSA risk score in combination with local statutes and policies to produce a recommendation for release conditions. The goal of the PSA is to make the restrictions on a defendant's release conditions better align with that defendant's assessed risk of committing new crimes or failing to appear. Over 40 jurisdictions across the country have implemented the PSA. Mecklenburg County, North Carolina was one of the first; it began using the PSA in 2014, switching from another risk assessment. This study presents the effects of the PSA and related policy changes in Mecklenburg County. The first report in the series describes the effects of the overall policy reforms on important outcomes. A supplemental second report describes the role of risk-based decision making in the outcomes and describes the effects of the PSA on racial disparities in outcomes and among different subgroups. Overall, the findings are notable from a public-safety perspective: Mecklenburg County released more defendants and did not see an increase in missed court appointments or new criminal charges while defendants were waiting for their cases to be resolved. The PSA policy changes were associated with less use of financial bail and a higher rate of defendants being released on a written promise or unsecured bond. The proportion of defendants detained in jail was lower than it would have been in the absence of the policy changes. There was an improved alignment between defendant risk and the restrictiveness of release conditions. Fewer cases resulted in guilty pleas and convictions than would have been the case in the absence of the reforms. Because more defendants were released while their cases were pending, they may have had less incentive to plead guilty in order to get out of jail. Even though the PSA policy changes increased the percentage of defendants who were released pending trial - and even though a higher proportion of defendants were facing felony charges in the period after the PSA was implemented - there was no evidence that the PSA policy changes affected the percentages of defendants who made all of their court appearances or who were charged with new crimes while waiting for their cases to be resolved. Most of the changes in pretrial release conditions occurred at a step in the pretrial case process before the PSA report is completed. Thus, having access to the information in the PSA could have had at most only a small effect on the way judges set release conditions. There was no evidence of racial disparity in the setting of release conditions and the PSA had no effect on racial disparities within the system. Black defendants were more likely than other racial groups to be assessed by the PSA as being high-risk, though.

Details: New York: MDRC Center for Criminal Justice Research, 2019. 42p.

Source: Internet Resource: Report 1 of 2: Accessed March 29, 2019 at: https://www.mdrc.org/sites/default/files/PSA_Mecklenburg_Brief1.pdf

Year: 2019

Country: United States

URL: https://www.mdrc.org/sites/default/files/PSA_Mecklenburg_Brief1.pdf

Shelf Number: 155229

Keywords:
Bail
Pretrial Justice
Pretrial Release
Public Safety
Racial Disparities
Risk Assessment

Author: Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

Title: New Era of Public Safety: A Guide to Fair, Safe, and Effective Community Policing

Summary: The Leadership Conference Education Fund today launched a new campaign, "New Era of Public Safety" featuring groundbreaking tools to increase trust, fairness, justice, and mutual respect between police departments and the communities they serve. The campaign guidebook and toolkit offer community-centered policy solutions to equip U.S. communities and police departments with best practices and recommendations for adopting 21st century policing models, including tools for advocacy. The campaign launch will include a Washington, D.C. kickoff event, featuring leading voices in activism, law enforcement, and journalism. "Repeated instances of police brutality and misconduct have shaken our nation," said Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of The Education Fund. "These incidents have deepened our distrust in law enforcement and reinforced the belief that all people are not policed equally. With this comprehensive guide and toolkit, we hope to renew trust in our nation's law enforcement by providing tools to put communities first as they work to keep everyone safe." True public safety requires that communities and police departments work together, and solutions should be driven by each community, working with the departments that serve them. The Education Fund's "New Era of Public Safety" campaign, report, and toolkit provide more than 100 recommendations to reform policing. These recommendations outline a road map for 21st century policing that equips law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve with the knowledge and tools they need to keep communities safe. Report recommendations include: End "broken windows policing" and other models that emphasize quantity over quality. Maintain and optimize a range of community partnerships. Tailor policing strategies to meet the needs of specific neighborhoods. Encourage communities to participate in the development and delivery of community policing training. Ensure officers inform community members of their rights to refuse or revoke consent and to document it. Develop stand-alone policies for fair and objective interactions with specific groups. Collect, analyze, and publicly report data relating to bias-based policing. The Education Fund also named Dallas, Texas and Minneapolis, Minnesota as inaugural jurisdictions to implement "New Era" recommendations. These pilot projects will provide local advocacy and strategic partnerships for organizations and activists to implement best policing practices through issue-centered campaigns. The Education Fund will launch the campaign at an event on March 28 at 5:00 p.m. ET at the Eaton Hotel in Washington, D.C. The event will feature remarks from Education Fund President & CEO Vanita Gupta, and a panel discussion moderated by the Washington Post's Wesley Lowery, and featuring Camden County Police Chief Scott Thomson; Center for Policing Equity Co-Founder and President Phillip Atiba Goff; and Judith Browne Dianis, executive director of Advancement Project. The event will be live-streamed here, with a chance for online viewers to submit their questions. A collaborative assembly of community advocates and law enforcement served as contributing authors throughout the process. They include: Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP; the Policing Project at NYU School of Law; Ron Davis, partner, 21CP Solutions, LLC, and former director of the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ); Scott Thomson, chief of the Camden County Police Department, and president of the Police Executive Research Forum; and Sue Rahr, executive director, Washington State Criminal Justice Training Commission. These experts provided key insights into the development of the report. Andrea Ritchie and Wesley Ware contributed to the concept and content for the toolkit. Julio A. Thompson also provided significant and invaluable contributions to the report.

Details: Washington, DC: Author, 2019. 416p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed April 16, 2019 at: https://policing.civilrights.org/

Year: 2019

Country: United States

URL: https://policing.civilrights.org/

Shelf Number: 155431

Keywords:
Civil Rights
Community Policing
Police Legitimacy
Police Reform
Police-Citizen Interactions
Police-Community Relations
Public Safety

Author: University of Gloucestershire

Title: Gloucester City Safe in 2018: Research conducted by students....

Summary: Executive Summary -- This report presents the findings from an examination of the Business Crime Reduction Partnership (BCRP) 'Gloucester City Safe' conducted by students from the University of Gloucestershire in October 2018. Gloucester City Safe was designed to tackle crime, disorder and anti-social behaviour in Gloucester, Stroud and the surrounding areas. Its 150+ business members work in partnership with the Police, Local Authorities and other stakeholders to tackle issues such as shoplifting, theft, alcohol related disorder, street drinking and begging through the application of a two-tiered sanction-based exclusion system. Since 2014, the University of Gloucestershire has worked with Gloucester City Safe (hereafter 'the Scheme') on collaborative research projects designed to consider the Scheme's operation and effectiveness and to generate insight in to public views on crime and safety. In October 2018, student researchers conducted public surveys in Gloucester City Centre (gaining 662 responses) and interviewed some of the Scheme's members (26 members interviewed). This report presents the findings from this activity, and can be used by the Scheme's management and the police to enhance understanding of crime and disorder in Gloucester and its surrounding areas and to help inform efforts to tackle these issues. The main findings from the report are summarised here. Public perceptions of crime, safety, policing and the Scheme -- A majority (36%) of the sample stated that 'shoplifting and theft' was the biggest problem in Gloucester, and that 'drugs' was the biggest cause of crime in Gloucester (selected by 24%). Feelings of safety were high among the sample, with 72% describing their perceived level of safety in Gloucester city centre as between six and 10 out of 10 (with 10 indicating feeling completely safe). Respondents were asked to provide their view on the effectiveness of police efforts to tackle crime in Gloucester city centre, with 60% of respondents stating that the police were 'very effective' or 'effective' in this regard. Just under half of the sample (47%, 314/662) had heard of the Scheme, and 76% (237/312) of this sub-sample stated that the Scheme was 'very effective' or 'effective' at tackling crime in Gloucester city centre. Those that had heard of the Scheme were asked whether knowing that it is in operation makes them feel safer in Gloucester city centre; 80% (250/314) responded 'Yes'. Member feedback on the Scheme -- Members were highly positive about the effectiveness of the Scheme, and about the communications and information sharing procedures employed by the Scheme. Members reported feeling safer in their place of work because of presence of the City Protection Officers (CPOs) and due to increased awareness concerning risks arising from effective information sharing among members. Some members stated that the Scheme is an effective deterrent for offenders and that its activity has eased the burden on the police. Members were positive about the incident reporting process, about the ease with which they could communicate information to the Scheme, and about the assistance that they receive from the Scheme manager and the CPOs with the reporting process. The DISC web platform and mobile application was described by members as very useful and user-friendly. The recent revisions to the offender gallery organisation was reported to have improved usability, and the speed with which incidents are uploaded and made viewable by the Scheme's manager was greatly appreciated and noted as highly useful. Members noted that most offenders are deterred by the receipt of a yellow card and the threat of a City Safe ban. However, many of the members noted a serious problem with a minority of offenders that ignore the sanctions and continue offending. For these repeat offenders, members noted that the card system is not effective. There were members who expressed a need for more severe consequences for repeat offenders, for increased police enforcement of exclusions and for increased use of Criminal Behaviour Orders (CBOs) for this group. Members were highly positive concerning the work of the City Protection Officer (CPOs), stating that they had made a significant difference since their introduction. There were many examples provided of incidents where the CPOs had helped tackle or prevent an issue or diffused a situation, and members spoke positively about the personal relationships they had developed with the CPOs. Some members also noted that more CPOs, and CPO shift patterns that meant they were present in the city centre for longer periods of the day, would be beneficial.

Details: Cheltenham, UK: Author, 2019. 23p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed May 14, 2019 at: http://eprints.glos.ac.uk/6553/7/Gloucester%20City%20Safe%20in%202018.pdf

Year: 2019

Country: United Kingdom

URL: http://eprints.glos.ac.uk/6553/7/Gloucester%20City%20Safe%20in%202018.pdf

Shelf Number: 155820

Keywords:
Antisocial Behavior
Business Crime Prevention
Cities and Crime
Communities and Crime
Crimes Against Businesses
Design Against Crime
Disorderly Conduct
Public Safety
Shoplifting
Theft

Rutgers - School of Law, Newark

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