Projects
The Enhancement of Community Policing:
Community Policing, Fear of Crime, and Fear of Terrorism
Community policing and fear of crime have been inextricably linked since 1981, when the evaluation of a field experiment in Newark, New Jersey found that the presence of foot patrol made neighborhood residents feel safer. Since 1981, it has become widely accepted that fear reduction is a legitimate police objective, and that community policing is perhaps the best fear-reduction strategy in the police arsenal. Since September 11, 2001, fear of terrorism has joined, or perhaps even surpassed, fear of crime as a matter of serious public and police concern.
Except for a few studies in the early to middle 1980’s, however, research attention has not remained focused on the connection between policing and fear of crime. Similarly, police program and strategy development targeted at fear reduction seems to have waned. Police departments today have only a few dated studies and little in the way of practical information to rely upon if they want to implement fear-reduction initiatives.
In this project, funded by the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, U.S. Department of Justice, the JSC is utilizing a variety of methods to identify and document best practices and promising approaches for law enforcement to accomplish fear reduction. The overall project objective set forth by the JSC is the development of a community policing guide that presents practical information for police executives, police officers, other public officials, and community leaders interested in implementing fear reduction initiatives in their jurisdictions.
For more information on
this project, please contact Dr. Gary Cordner at 859-622-2344 or at
Gary.Cordner@eku.edu.
