Using Knowledge and Teamwork To Reduce Crime

• NCJ Number: 179446
• Journal: National Institute of Justice Journal Dated: October 1999 Pages: 16-23
• Date Published: October 1999
• Author(s): Veronica Coleman; Walter C. Holton Jr.; Kristine Olson; Stephen C. Robinson; Judith Stewart
• Length: 8 pages
• Agencies: NIJ
• Publication Type: Program/Project Description; Issue Overview

Annotation

A pilot project called the Strategic Approaches to Community Safety Initiative (SACSI) provides five cities with a new way of doing business that makes heavy use of statistical data and information analysis, boosts the United States attorney's role as a crucial community problemsolver, and asks researchers to serve as navigators for the efforts.

Abstract

SACSI is supported by more than a dozen Department of Justice agencies. The five pilot sites and their targeted crime problems are (1) Indianapolis (homicide and gun violence); (2) Memphis (sexual assault); (3) New Haven, Conn. (gun-related crime and community fear); (4) Portland (youth gun violence); and (5) Winston-Salem, N.C. (youth violence). SACSI tests the assumption that crime is most effectively reduced by: (1) bringing together the various perspectives and capacities of community groups and agencies to address a major crime problem; (2) gleaning knowledge from street-level practitioners and from working with researchers; and (3) adapting the strategy when ongoing information analysis reveals failures or inefficiencies. The SACSI model follows five major steps: (1) Form an interagency working group; (2) Gather information about a local crime problem; (3) Design a strategic intervention; (4) Implement the intervention; and (5) Assess and modify the strategy as the data reveal effects. The sites have experienced common challenges and have learned that as a result of the project, criminal justice agencies have changed the way they do business and define success. Profiles of each program, notes, and list of 8 sources of additional information