Criminal Psychology 5:
Crime prevention (Social)
Name: ……………………………………………………………
1
, Background:
“New York in the 1990s resembled a Mad Max movie, with aggressive beggars, muggings and
graffiti-covered subway trains – it was the poster boy of a country in disarray.”
– Bill Bratton, New York police chief in the 1990s.
Research shows that citizens in developed countries such as the USA and UK tend to like frequent,
close contact with the police and feel more secure and reassured when officers are visible and on the
street. Older citizens in particular often associate these methods with the ‘good old days’ when crime
rates were low and they felt safe in their neighbourhoods:
Foot patrols (or ‘beats’):
Community policing:
Many police forces across the USA and UK discontinued walking beats between the 1920s and 1950s
in favour of motorized patrols, which were deemed to be more ‘efficient’. Police resources were also
increasingly shifting away from preventing disorder and minor crimes to responding to and solving
more serious crimes.
However, the last few decades have seen a resurgence in foot patrols due to changes in thinking born
from our key research [next page].
2
Crime prevention (Social)
Name: ……………………………………………………………
1
, Background:
“New York in the 1990s resembled a Mad Max movie, with aggressive beggars, muggings and
graffiti-covered subway trains – it was the poster boy of a country in disarray.”
– Bill Bratton, New York police chief in the 1990s.
Research shows that citizens in developed countries such as the USA and UK tend to like frequent,
close contact with the police and feel more secure and reassured when officers are visible and on the
street. Older citizens in particular often associate these methods with the ‘good old days’ when crime
rates were low and they felt safe in their neighbourhoods:
Foot patrols (or ‘beats’):
Community policing:
Many police forces across the USA and UK discontinued walking beats between the 1920s and 1950s
in favour of motorized patrols, which were deemed to be more ‘efficient’. Police resources were also
increasingly shifting away from preventing disorder and minor crimes to responding to and solving
more serious crimes.
However, the last few decades have seen a resurgence in foot patrols due to changes in thinking born
from our key research [next page].
2
