What Are Community-Based Crime Prevention Programs?
Community-based crime prevention programs include those that operate within the community and involve community residents actively working with their local government agencies to address issues contributing to crime, delinquency, and disorder. Community members are encouraged to play key roles in problem identification and planning solutions to problems in their communities. There is wide variation in community-based crime prevention programs based on factors such as program focus, program rationale, community context (e.g., racial and social class composition in the community), and level and type of community involvement. Community-based crime prevention programs are operated by neighborhood residents, police, and faith-based organizations. Community-based crime prevention programs covered here include: • Community policing – a policing approach that promotes and supports strategies to address crime-related problems through police-community partnerships; • Neighborhood Watch – a commu
