NEIGHBORHOOD CRIME PREVENTION: THE INFLUENCES OF COMMUNITY-BASED ORGANIZATIONS AND NEIGHBORHOOD WATCH

Proponents of community oriented policing stress that an intimate partnership between the police and citizens is necessary in order to accomplish crime control and crime prevention. Supporters of citizen crime prevention also suggest that citizen involvement in crime prevention activities will help to reduce crime. Others have suggested that the police and the community must become coproducers of these objectives. Few empirical studies, however, have examined whether collective citizen involvement with the police in broad based crime prevention activities influence crime. The current paper explores the relationship between community based organizations, neighborhood watches and their relationship to crime within the community.