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Neighborhood Safety Resources

Neighborhood Safety Resources: A resource for practices that increase neighborhood safety.

Local Initiatives Support Corporation has an online library of community resources and research documents about a variety of neighborhood safety best practices. The Community Capacity Development Office’s Weed & Seed IN Sites online magazine chronicles community successes in increasing neighborhood safety.

Criminal Justice Links

Best Practice Articles


At Risk Youth
Richmond, KY: Targeting high school freshman, interventions included conflict resolution training, formation of a Students Against Destructive Decisions (SADD) club. All students referred for behavioral problems were subject to Violence Prevention Curriculum. Teachers were subject to professional development sessions on the topic of "good student/teacher relationships". School security assessments/crisis response drills and a committee who monitors violent incidents were put into place.

Tempe, AZ: Created a number of programs, one being Chicanos por la Causa which includes home visits, a daily police presence on the school campus, after school activities designed to boost self-esteem, and special community event (e.g. a Cinco de Mayo festival which allowed officers from that neighborhood's beat to meet community members).

Burglary of Retail Establishments

Community Apathy
Tempe, AZ: Residents in the area felt anger, suspicion, and fear of retribution from local drug dealers that they were afraid to report crimes occurring within their community. Residents felt that they had been abandoned by the police. The Beat 16 project was then created to combat this problem. Named for the police beat in which the project was occurring, the Beat 16 project main purpose was for residents to reclaim their neighborhood. Once the residents felt comfortable with the police working on the Beat 16 project, information began pouring in about illegal activities taking place in the neighborhood.

Drugs
San Bernadino County, CA: Created a Drug Court based on the Dade County, FL version is an alternative to jail time. Treatment consists of one-on-one substance abuse counseling, drug test monitoring, educational/therapy groups, relapse prevention and Narcotics/Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. After one year, the person graduates from the program with clean/sober living skills. Individuals who fail this program my have charges reinstated at the discretion of the courts.

Gangs
Bloomington, IL: Due to the increase of gangs and gang related drug activity, the City of Bloomington implemented a program of gang suppression which included community mobilization, social intervention, social opportunities provision, suppression, and organizational change and development. Through this program, program directors made regular contact with schools about specific at-risk youth, built trust and rapport with gang youth, specifically leadership youth, acted as a liaison between at-risk youth and program components, and made appropriate referrals of at-risk youth for immediate/basic service needs.

Wichita, KS: The Wichita/Sedgewick County Neighborhood Initiative is a consortium of grassroots community organizations; public agencies, including law enforcement, city government, and the schools; and interested for-profit and nonprofit private sector businesses, labor groups, and civic organizations to reduce gang-related violence. The initiative brings all parties to the table regularly, including grassroots anti-gang groups, police representatives, and gang members themselves.

San Diego, CA: The San Diego strategy used paid informants to make videotaped drug buys in targeted neighborhoods, resulting in the eventual arrest of street-level and mid-level members of the Crips, the Bloods, and another gang. The majority of gang members arrested pleaded guilty and were sentenced to prison.

Graffiti
Burlington, VT: The First Response Team, which was launched in 2001, promises clean-up within 72 hours, weekly volunteer clean-ups, volunteer training, youth learning services, adopt a block, mural and other restorative activities, and community service for prosecuted graffiti vandals. The First Response team cleaned up over 900 locations in 2004 and operates with a budget of $37,000.
http://www.graffitihurts.org/community_resources/One_Page_Fact_Sheet_11305_update.pdf
Caldwell, ID: Youth and adult volunteers formed a task force to remove graffiti. It is run by the Idaho Chamber of Commerce in coordination with police and other local agencies. Equipment is kept at the Chamber's downtown site. When graffiti is spotted, the task force coordinator is notified. The coordinator then assigns a group to remove the graffiti. This approach has been so successful that juvenile court has asked to be able to assign youth to help out with the task force as their court ordered sentence for non-violent crimes.

Prostitution
Grand Rapids, MI: Several programs have resulted from the Prostitution Round Table (PRT), a committee charged with finding solutions to prostitution. One of the programs that have resulted include The Open Door Program which provides safe refuge for women from 9 p.m. to 9 a.m. and is staffed by women recovering from many of the same issues as women coming off the street. Another program, the Social Work and Police Partnership (SWAPP), is a partnership between Grand Valley State University’s School of Social Work and the Grand Rapids Police Department. In this innovative program, social workers ride along with community police providing direct assistance for prostituted women, as well as assistance in court, jail and elsewhere. The final program, Start Treatment of Prostitutes (STOP), is a day treatment program spearheaded by Cindy Sikkema, probation officer for the 61st District Court.