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Thinking Like a Thief is the Key to Crime Prevention

NCJ Number
229745
Journal
Police Chief Volume: 77 Issue: 1 Dated: January 2010 Pages: 30-32
Author(s)
Jeffrey Dingle
Date Published
January 2010
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This article identifies the key to crime prevention for law enforcement as an increase in the knowledge and skills in thinking like an offender.
Abstract
Crime prevention is an essential element of keeping order in society. With that said, every police officer needs to know at least as much as the offender knows. A successful crime prevention officer needs a vast amount of knowledge, covering a large group of security-related topics. A crime prevention officer has to be knowledgeable across a wide arena of crime and threats and solutions. The officer also needs to understand crime, understand threat and risk assessment, understand technology, and understand the criminal. Understanding how criminals operate is the most basic step in preventing them from committing crimes. This article looks at the variety of knowledge that a law enforcement professional needs to know in order to be effective in preventing crime. 1 note