Crime prevention is the comprehensiveness of many prevention efforts and the seriousness with which issues of security and crime prevention are taken by police and citizens alike. The purpose of this article is to analyze the participation factors of ...
Crime prevention is the comprehensiveness of many prevention efforts and the seriousness with which issues of security and crime prevention are taken by police and citizens alike. The purpose of this article is to analyze the participation factors of citizen patrol for voluntary crime prevention and propose the methods vitalizing the activity.
Recently crime rate has been rising speedily, and citizens have been less concerned about community. Consequently the police has been the worst condition of crime. In order to prevent crime and maintain the safety of community, citizen participation in crime prevention has, been required in these surroundings.
This article dealt with only Group-Positive Citizen Participation, and Individual-Passive, Individual-Positive, Group-Passive Citizen Participation were except from this article, and this article didn't deal with private security.
This article made a comparison between participants and non-participants to discriminate the participation factors. For the analysis of this article, Chi-square test, T-test. Multiple regression analysis were used. This article used reliability analysis to verify inner consistency of questionnaire, and reliability degree is from .7659 to .5428.
In 2002, there are 456 voluntary crime prevention groups in Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency and 12,475 members are taking part in the groups.
When citizens participate in crime prevention, fear degree of crime will be low, citizen spirit will be improved, the level and extent of police service will be enlarged, police-community relation will be improved, police investigation will be effective. But crime prevention activities that citizens participation in are limited at only crime prevention, citizens' burden will rise, responsibility to maintain the safety of community is transferred to citizens, the balance of police service is off, the resistance of policemen will occur, voluntary citizen involvement will be activated at only specific region.
The theoretical backgrounds of this article are Community Policing, Situational Crime Prevention, Coproduction of Police Service, Community Crime Prevention. Community Policing is another attempt at having police officers become more involved with the community they serve. By being involved in police decision making, it is hoped that the community will become more accepting of police officers and that officers will feel less isolated from the community. Situational Crime Prevention is highly specific forms of crime prevention that involve the management, design, or manipulate of the immediate environment in as systematic and pelinanent way as possible so as to reduce the opportunities for crime and increase its risks as perceived by a wide range of offenders. Lately Coproduction of Police Service has been a matter of much concern. Coproduction of Police Service is that the citizen can participate in various crime prevention activities with police, and influence the safety of community positively. Community Crime Prevention is an internal component of crime control. Indeed, many sociologists would argue that community involvement is the only approach. This may be because the community-based approach is directed toward treating the roots of the crime while many other programs provide only symptomatic treatment.
This article surveyed 265 participants and 298 non-participants at 22 police stations in Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency. The demographics of participants analyzed in this article are gender, age, job, income, numbers of sons and daughters, educational level, dwelling place. Most of the participants are males, middle-aged, business owners, upper-middle income, less high educated, married with children, and dwell in commercial place.
The Independent variables of this article were Individual factors and regional factors. Individual factors to participate in voluntary citizen patrol are ⓐ experience of crime victim, ⓑ fear of crime, ⓒ trustfulness for crime prevention of police, ⓓ concern for crime prevention, ⓔ effectiveness of voluntary crime prevention. And regional factors to participation in voluntary citizen patrol are ⓐ close relation among citizens, ⓑ crime rate, ⓒ mobility of citizens, ⓓ actualization of community policing, ⓔ character of residential district. And the dependent variable of this article is the citizen participation in voluntary crime prevention.
Among individual factors, there is a significant difference between participants and non-participants in trustfulness for crime prevention of police, concern for crime prevention, effectiveness of voluntary crime prevention. And among regional factors there is a significant difference between participants and non-participants in close relation among citizens, mobility of citizens, vitalization of community policing, character of residential district.
In addition, individual factors to participate positively in voluntary citizen patrol are effectiveness of voluntary crime prevention(β=.468), trustfulness for crime prevention of police(β=.197), concern for crime prevention(β=.114). And regional factors to participate positively in voluntary citizen patrol are actualization of community policing(β=.569), close relation among citizens(β=.123).
The methods for vitalizing voluntary citizen patrol on the basis of the factors we have analyzed above were presented the below.
The first, we have to vitalize community policing. To actualize community policing, we have to grasp citizens' desire, develop various citizen participation programs, recover trust relation to community citizens, and establish partnerships with citizens.
The Second, we have to improve trustfulness for crime prevention of police. To improve trustfulness for crime prevention of police, we have to enlarge citizen-oriented patrol, change crime prevention devices scientifically, establish the liaison between police and voluntary crime prevention group, and convert the understanding between police and citizen positively.
The third, we have to improve close relations among citizens. To improve close relations among citizens, we have to make voluntary crime prevention group smaller, actualize community events.
The fourth, we have to inform citizens of voluntary crime prevention activities. To inform citizens of voluntary crime prevention activities, we have to give notice of the importance of citizen participation, develop various methods to lead citizens to take part in voluntary crime prevention group.
The fifth, we have to manage voluntary citizen patrol group effectively. To manage voluntary citizen patrol group effectively, we have to manage voluntary citizen patrol group thoroughly, train participants with citizen police academy program, present much support, and limit participants' qualification.
A study of voluntary citizen patrol suggests that the critical ingredients for success are ⓐ strong administrative committment to the activity, ⓑ clearly defined program goals and functions that relate to community and agency need, ⓒ careful screening of volunteers, ⓓ a strong training program, including ongoing training in specialized areas, ⓔ assessment of volunteer interests and skills and assignment of volunteers to meaningful tasks, ⓕ sensitivity to the needs and fears of agency personal, ⓖ development of support of agency personal for the activity, ⓗ effective supervision of volunteers and monitoring of the activity, ⓘ involvement of volunteers in recruiting and supervisory activities, ⓙ a feedback system that encourages recognition, evaluation, and recommendations for change from volunteers and staff, ⓚ sensitivity to the needs of volunteers, ⓛ a willingness to encourage and accept change within the program necessity for its vitality, ⓜ application of group dynamics principles in strengthening volunteer cooperation and coordination, ⓝ a strong personal coordination, ⓞ inclusion of line personal in every phase of the program development and implementation.