NCJ Number
189550
Date Published
2001
Length
34 pages
Annotation
This report profiles six American cities that have achieved significant and sustained improvements in public safety and quality of life.
Abstract
The report discusses how six cities improved public safety and quality of life, the principles on which their successes were based, and how the lessons of their approaches could be adapted for use in other cities. The report examines the achievements of Cleveland (OH), El Paso (TX), Lowell (MA), Newark (NJ), New Orleans (LA), and Portland (OR). Among other actions, the cities invested new people in problem-solving discussions; stopped making assumptions about problems and solutions; shared power across agency lines and with neighborhoods; refocused existing staff; recruited new resources; retooled agency organizational structures; recognized the need to develop partnerships with neighborhood and business leaders; and reformed police operations to respond to a new awareness of the reality of community conditions. The report concludes that, while the cities' experiences were unique, they all used prevention, planning, and specific actions from a wide range of groups to target efforts on key situational and environmental causes of crime. Tables, figure, appendix