NCJ Number
196449
Journal
Journal of Crime & Justice Volume: 25 Issue: 1 Dated: 2002 Pages: 41-61
Editor(s)
J. Mitchell Miller
Date Published
2002
Length
21 pages
Annotation
This article reviews research on the impact of community policing volunteerism on those civilian volunteers perceptions of crime prevalence and fear of crime relative to the fears and perceptions of non-volunteers.
Abstract
The authors studied fear of violent crime and property crime victimization among citizen volunteers in community policing projects. A short literature review of prior research on the topic is provided. Data for this study were collected from an unnamed medium-sized U.S. city with 300 police officers which adopted a community policing philosophy in the mid-1990's. Study subjects consisted of 192 civilian community policing volunteers and 421 citizen non-volunteers. The authors employed a multivariate regression technique and Ordinary Least Squares (OLS)regression estimators to analyze the data collected. The authors found increased levels of fear of crime and crime victimization among community volunteers. Fear of violent crime in particular was substantially increased versus that of non-volunteers. The authors note that the results of their research support Pepinski’s 1989 study on the impact of police volunteerism on civilian participants. The authors suggest that additional research on this topic, specifically a longitudinal study is needed. 3 tables, 23 references, 1 appendix