Effectiveness of Neighborhood Watch Programs in Reducing Burglary Rates in Urban Areas
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37899/mjds.v1i2.48Keywords:
Neighborhood Watch Programs, Burglary Rates, Urban Crime Prevention, Community Engagement, Quasi-Experimental DesignAbstract
The aim of this study is to assess the effectiveness of Neighborhood Watch Programs (NWPs) in burglary prevention in urban neighborhoods by filling some of the gaps in the literature by using a quasi-experimental research design and strong statistical methods. Data sources: police records, community surveys and interviews samples from neighbourhoods with and without NWPs Descriptive statistics showed significantly reduced burglary rates in NWP areas (M = 4.5) compared with non-NWP areas (M = 7.3) with a statistically significant difference (t = -5.32, p < .001, respectively). Further ANOVA, ANCOVA and multiple regression analyses confirmed that NWPs have a significant effect on burglary reduction, independent of property socioeconomic status or police presence. Furthermore, a significant negative correlation was found between community involvement and burglary rate (r=-0.67, p<0.001), thus reaffirming the strong relevance of community involvement in the crime prevention context. These findings support the strong deterrent effect of NWPs on burglary and hold important implications for policy makers and law enforcement. The promotion and facilitation of NWPs is a potential key intervention in urban crime prevention and future research should test their effectiveness with regards to broader crime categories and program level outcomes.
References
Abdurrahim, A. Y., Adhuri, D. S., Ross, H., & Phelan, A. (2022). Community champions of ecosystem services: The role of local agency in protecting Indonesian coral reefs. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution, 10, 868218. https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2022.868218
Altbach, P. G., Reisberg, L., & Rumbley, L. E. (2019). Trends in global higher education: Tracking an academic revolution (Vol. 22). Brill.
Barton, E. R., McManus, M., Johnson, G., Harker, S., Rodriguez, G. R., Newbury, A., ... & Roberts, J. (2019). Understanding the landscape of policing when responding to vulnerability: Interviews with frontline officers across Wales. Project Report. Public Health Wales. ISBN 97817898615411
Bennett, T., Holloway, K., & Farrington, D. (2008). The effectiveness of neighborhood watch. Campbell systematic reviews, 4(1), 1-46. http://dx.doi.org/10.1057/palgrave.sj.8350076
Braga, A. A., Turchan, B., Papachristos, A. V., & Hureau, D. M. (2019). Hot spots policing of small geographic areas effects on crime. Campbell systematic reviews, 15(3), e1046. https://doi.org/10.1002/cl2.1046
Chuvieco, E., Yebra, M., Martino, S., Thonicke, K., Gómez-Giménez, M., San-Miguel, J., ... & Viegas, D. (2023). Towards an integrated approach to wildfire risk assessment: when, where, what and how may the landscapes burn. Fire, 6(5), 215. https://doi.org/10.3390/fire6050215
Greenberg, M. A. (2021). Everyone a Sheriff: The Democratization of Crime Prevention in America. Rowman & Littlefield.
Henderson, J. V., & Turner, M. A. (2020). Urbanization in the developing world: too early or too slow?. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 34(3), 150-173. https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.34.3.150
Henson, B. (2020). Routine Activities. The Palgrave Handbook of International Cybercrime and Cyberdeviance, 469-489. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-78440-3_23
Hesketh, I., & Cooper, C. L. (2023). Law Enforcement, Leadership and Wellbeing: Creating Resilience. Springer Nature.
Jones, B. L. (2020). Exploring the Impact of Domestic Violence Protection Notices on Victims and Perpetrators of Domestic Violence (Doctoral dissertation, Bangor University (United Kingdom)).
Kubrin, C. E., & Tublitz, R. (2023). Social disorganization theory and community-based interventions. In Routledge Handbook of Evidence-Based Criminal Justice Practices (pp. 13-25). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003219286
Merz, B., Kuhlicke, C., Kunz, M., Pittore, M., Babeyko, A., Bresch, D. N., ... & Wurpts, A. (2020). Impact forecasting to support emergency management of natural hazards. Reviews of Geophysics, 58(4), e2020RG000704. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020RG000704
Mols, A., & Pridmore, J. (2019). When citizens are “actually doing police work”: The blurring of boundaries in WhatsApp neighbourhood crime prevention groups in The Netherlands. Surveillance & Society, 17(3/4), 272-287. http://dx.doi.org/10.24908/ss.v17i3/4.8664
Regan, J. M., & Myers, D. L. (2020). Enhancing Community Safety through Urban Demolition: An Exploratory Study of Detroit, Michigan. Justice Policy Journal, 17(1).
Reynald, D. M. (2016). Guarding against crime: Measuring guardianship within routine activity theory. Routledge.
Roberts-Tebejane, B. J. (2021). Towards a sustainable implementation LED framework for the North West Province in South Africa (Doctoral dissertation, North-West University (South Africa)).
Sampson, R. J., Raudenbush, S. W., & Earls, F. (1997). Neighborhoods and violent crime: A multilevel study of collective efficacy. science, 277(5328), 918-924. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.277.5328.918
Schaefer, L. (2021). Routine activity theory. Oxford University Press.
Shah, A. A., Ullah, A., Khan, N. A., Khan, A., Tariq, M. A. U. R., & Xu, C. (2023). Community social barriers to non-technical aspects of flood early warning systems and NGO-led interventions: The case of Pakistan. Frontiers in Earth Science, 11, 1068721. https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2023.1068721
Shepherdson, P., Clancey, G., Lee, M., & Crofts, T. (2014). Community safety and crime prevention partnerships: Challenges and opportunities. International Journal for crime, justice and Social Democracy, 3(1), 107-120. http://dx.doi.org/10.5204/ijcjsd.v3i1.135
Squires, P. (2017). Community safety and crime prevention: A critical reassessment. In Handbook of crime prevention and community safety (pp. 32-54). Routledge.
van Steden, R., & Mehlbaum, S. (2022). Do-it-yourself surveillance: The practices and effects of WhatsApp Neighbourhood Crime Prevention groups. Crime, Media, Culture, 18(4), 543-560. https://doi.org/10.1177/17416590211041017
Yang, D., Wang, W., Gueymard, C. A., Hong, T., Kleissl, J., Huang, J., ... & Peters, I. M. (2022). A review of solar forecasting, its dependence on atmospheric sciences and implications for grid integration: Towards carbon neutrality. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 161, 112348. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rser.2022.112348
