Showing 1 – 15 of 15 results.
Curated
Restricted
Assessing Police Performance in Citizen Encounters, Schenectady and Syracuse, NY, 2011-2014 (ICPSR 35467)
Released/updated on: 2017-12-14
Geographic coverage: Schenectady, United States, Syracuse, New York (state)
Time period: 2011-01-01--2014-01-01
These data are part of NACJD's Fast Track Release and are distributed as they were received from the data depositor. The files have been zipped by NACJD for release, but not checked or processed except for the removal of direct identifiers. Users should refer to the accompanying readme file for a brief description of the files available with this collection and consult the investigator(s) if further information is needed.
This study examined how police managers would use information about their officers' performance in procedural justice terms. The project provided for the injection of citizen assessment of service quality into systems of police performance measurement and accountability. Information on the quality of police-citizen encounters was drawn from surveys of citizens who had contact with the police in each of two cities, Schenectady and Syracuse, New York. Following the accumulation of survey data to form a baseline, survey results on citizens' satisfaction and judgments about procedural justice in their police contacts were summarized and reported to command staffs on a monthly basis through the departments' respective Compstat meetings. In this way the project provided for measures of police performance with respect to procedural justice with sufficient periodicity that the information was potentially useful in managing performance.
The study addressed four specific questions:
- Does performance on these outcomes - procedural justice and citizen satisfaction - improve when information on these outcomes is incorporated into departments' systems of performance measurement and accountability?
- What do police managers do with this information, and how (if at all) are field supervisors and patrol officers affected by it?
- Are survey-based measures of citizens' subjective experiences valid measures of police performance, that is, do they reflect the procedural justice with which police act?
- Can survey based measures be deployed economically (e.g., through targeted sampling), and can other, less expensive measures of the quality of police-citizen encounters be substituted for survey-based measures?
To answer these questions, researches used a mixed methods data collection plan. In both Schenectady and Syracuse, a survey was administered to people who had recent contact with the police. Semi-monthly samples were randomly drawn from police records of calls for service, stops, and arrests from mid-July, 2011, through mid-January, 2013. Across the 18 months of surveying, 3,603 interviews were completed. Also carried out, was a survey of key informants in each city - neighborhood association leaders - in order to extend the assessment of public perceptions of the local police beyond those who have direct contact with police to the larger community. Interviews with patrol officers and supervisors were also conducted in both sites, once at about the mid-point of the 18-month police services survey and again at the conclusion of the surveying. Interviews were conducted with the commanders shortly after the project was introduced to them in October of 2011. Finally, in Schenectady, "armchair" observation of a subset of the 1,800 encounters about which the citizen had already been interviewed was conducted.
The collection contains 7 SPSS data files and 6 Syntax files:
- archive_Census_beat.sav (n=30; 28 variables)
- archive_keyinformant_analysis.sps
- archive_keyinformant_survey.sav (n=90; 28 variables)
- archive_obs_byenc.sav (n=476; 79 variables)
- archive_obs_byobserver.sav (n=1,078; 476 variables)
- archive_obs_enc_analysis.sps
- archive_obs_enc_var_construction.sps
- archive_police_data.sav (n=3,603; 9 variables)
- archive_policeservices_survey_analysis.sps
- archive_policeservices_survey_closed.sav (n=3,603; 148 variables)
- archive_policeservices_survey_open.sav (n=1,218; 23 variables)
- archive_policeservices_survey_var_construction.sps
- Syntax to replicate results - list by table.pdf
For confidentiality reasons, the qualitative interviews with citizens, police sergeants, patrol officers, and commanders regarding their experiences are not available as part of this collection.
Curated
Restricted
Assessing Procedural Justice During Police-Citizen Encounters with Officer Surveys, Citizen Surveys, and Systematic Social Observations, Norfolk, VA, 2017-2019 (ICPSR 37455)
Released/updated on: 2023-01-31
Geographic coverage: United States, Virginia, Norfolk
Time period: 2017-01-01--2019-01-01
This study aimed to improve the understanding of procedural justice during police-citizen encounters with a comprehensive approach including officer surveys, systematic social observations, and citizen surveys.
First, the study used officer surveys to evaluate the effectiveness of a procedural justice training program in Norfolk, Virginia. In 2017, an eight-hour training was conducted for all Norfolk police officers. A pretest and posttest survey was given to each officer during the training, which asked about their opinions on a multitude of statements representing the key elements of procedural justice in policing (e.g., voice, respect, trustworthiness, and neutrality). In 2019, the officers were given a second-wave survey to assess the long-term effects of the training.
The study also examined officers' procedurally fair behavior during interactions and citizens' behavioral responses through systematic social observations of police-citizen interactions captured by the police body-worn cameras. Patrol shifts were randomly selected and observed between December 2017 and March 2019.
The third component included a survey of citizens who interacted with the police during the observation period. Randomly selected officers were, prior to the shift, encouraged to hand out survey cards to all citizens they encountered. These cards invited the citizens to take a survey online. Citizens could also give their phone numbers to the officers so that they could be contacted to take the survey over the phone. The goal of the citizen survey was to obtain information about the citizens' opinions of the Norfolk police in general and the specific encounters they had with the Norfolk police.
Taken together, the three components of this study offered a systematic understanding of the policing issues related to procedural justice, including officers' perceptions about procedural justice, officers' procedurally fair behavior during interactions, citizens' behavioral responses, and citizens' subjective evaluations of their encounters.
Curated
Evaluation of the Maricopa County [Arizona] Demand Reduction Program, 1989-1991 (ICPSR 9977)
Released/updated on: 2006-01-12
Geographic coverage: United States, Arizona
Time period: 1989-03-01--1991-05-01
These data were collected to evaluate the Demand Reduction Program, a program initiated in Maricopa County, Arizona, in 1989 to combat drug abuse. A consortium of municipal, county, state, and federal law enforcement agencies developed the program, which stressed user accountability. The Demand Reduction Program had two objectives: (1) to create community-wide awareness of the severity of the drug problem and to alert drug users to the increased risk of legal sanctions, and (2) to adopt a zero-tolerance position of user accountability through an emphasis on increased and coordinated law enforcement activities directed against individual offenders and special treatment programs in lieu of prosecution. Part 1 of the collection, Demand Reduction Program Data, provides information on prosecutor's disposition, arrest date, submitted charges, filed charges, prior charges, disposition of charges, drugs offender used in last three months, information on prior drug treatment, type of attorney, and arrestee's age at arrest, sex, marital status, income, and living arrangement. Part 2 is a Citizen Survey conducted in January 1990, ten months after the implementation of the Demand Reduction Program. Adult residents of Maricopa County were asked in telephone interviews about their attitudes toward drug use, tax support for drug treatment, education, and punishment, their knowledge of the Demand Reduction Program, and demographic information. Parts 3 and 4 supply data from surveys of Maricopa County police officers, conducted in March 1990 and April 1991, to measure attitudes regarding the Demand Reduction Program with respect to (1) police effort, (2) inter-agency cooperation, (3) the harm involved in drug use, and (4) support for diversion to treatment. The two police surveys contained identically-worded questions, with only a small number of different questions asked the second year. Variables include officer's rank, years at rank, years in department, shift worked, age, sex, ethnicity, education, marital status, if officer was the primary or secondary wage earner, officer's perception of and training for the Demand Reduction Program, and personal attitudes toward drug use. Part 5 provides arrest data from the Maricopa County Task Force, which arrested drug users through two methods: (1) sweeps of public and semi-public places, and (2) "reversals," where drug sellers were arrested and replaced by police officers posing as drug sellers, who then arrested the drug buyers. Task Force data include arrest date, operation number, operation beginning and ending date, operation type, region where operation was conducted, charge resulting from arrest, Demand Reduction Program identification number, and arrestee's sex, race, and date of birth.
Curated
Impact of Community Policing at the Street Level: An Observational Study in Richmond, Virginia, 1992 (ICPSR 2612)
Released/updated on: 2006-03-30
This study's purpose was twofold: to investigate the nature of police patrol work in a community policing context and to field-test data collection instruments designed for systematic social observation. The project, conducted in Richmond, Virginia, where its police department was in the third year of a five-year plan to implement community policing, was designed as a case study of one police department's experience with community policing, focusing on officers in the patrol division. A team of eight researchers conducted observations with the police officers in the spring and summer of 1992. A total of 120 officers were observed during 125 observation sessions. Observers accompanied officers throughout their regular work shifts, taking brief field notes on officers' activities and encounters with the public. All of an observed officer's time during the shift was accounted for by either encounters or activities. Within 15 hours of the completion of the ridealong, the observer prepared a detailed narrative account of events that occurred during the ridealong and coded key items associated with these events. The study generated five nested quantitative datasets that can be linked by common variables. Part 1, Ridealong Data, provides information pertinent to the 125 observation sessions or "rides." Part 2, Activity Data, focuses on 5,576 activities conducted by officers when not engaged in encounters. Data in Part 3, Encounter Data, describe 1,098 encounters with citizens during the ridealongs. An encounter was defined as a communication between officers and citizens that took over one minute, involved more than three verbal exchanges between an officer and a citizen, or involved significant physical contact between the officer and citizen. Part 4, Citizen Data, provides data relevant to each of the 1,630 citizens engaged by police in the encounters. Some encounters involved more than one citizen. Part 5, Arrest Data, was constructed by merging Parts 1, 3, and 4, and provides information on 451 encounters that occurred during the ridealongs in which the citizen was suspected of some criminal mischief. All identification variables in this collection were created by the researchers for this project. Variables from Part 1 include date, start time, end time, unit, and beat assignment of the observation session, and the primary officer's and secondary officer's sex, race/ethnicity, years as an officer, months assigned to precinct and beat, hours of community policing training, and general orientation to community policing. Variables in Part 2 specify the time the activity began and ended, who initiated the activity, type, location, and visibility of the activity, involvement of the officer's supervisor during the activity, and if the activity involved problem-solving, or meeting with citizens or other community organizations. Part 3 variables include time encounter began and ended, who initiated the encounter, primary and secondary officer's energy level and mood before the encounter, problem as radioed by dispatcher, and problem as it appeared at the beginning of the encounter and at the end of the encounter. Information on the location of the encounter includes percent of time at initial location, visibility, officer's prior knowledge of the initial location, and if the officer anticipated violence at the scene. Additional variables focus on the presence of a supervisor, other police officers, service personnel, bystanders, and participants, if the officer filed or intended to file a report, if the officer engaged in problem-solving, and factors that influenced the officer's actions. Citizen information in Part 4 includes sex, age, and race/ethnicity of the citizen, role in the encounter, if the citizen appeared to be of low income, under the use of alcohol or drugs, or appeared to have a mental disorder or physical injury or illness, if the citizen was representing an establishment, if the citizen lived, worked, or owned property in the police beat, and if the citizen had a weapon. Also presented are various aspects of the police-citizen interaction, such as evidence considered by the officer, requests and responses to each other, and changes in actions during the encounter. Variables in Part 5 record the officer's orientation toward community policing, if the suspect was arrested or cited, if the offense was serious or drug-related, amount of evidence, if the victim requested that the suspect be arrested, if the victim was white, Black, and of low income, and if the suspect represented an organization. Information on the suspect includes gender, race, sobriety level, if of low income, if 19 years old or less, if actively resistant, if the officer knew the suspect adversarially, and if the suspect demonstrated conflict with others. Some items were recoded for the particular analyses for which the Arrest Data were constructed.
Curated
Partially restricted
Implicit and Explicit Messages on Neighborhood Watch Signs in San Diego County, California, 2005-2007 (ICPSR 20620)
Released/updated on: 2010-11-24
Geographic coverage: United States, California
Time period: 2005-07-01--2005-11-01, 2006-01-01--2006-09-01, 2006-10-01--2007-03-01
The purpose of the study was to evaluate the effects of Neighborhood Watch signs on perceived crime rates, likelihood of victimization, community safety, and estimates of home and community quality. Part 1 (Study One Data) assessed the causal impact of Neighborhood Watch sign presence and content on perceptions of the community. Three Neighborhood Watch signs were incorporated into a series of slide show presentations. The signs utilized the traditional orange and white color scheme with black text and were used to represent an injunctive norm alone, a low descriptive norm for crime, or a high descriptive norm for crime. Digital color images of a for-sale home and the surrounding neighborhood of a middle class community in North San Diego County were shown to 180 undergraduates recruited from the Psychology Department's Human Participant Pool, and from other lower division general education courses at California State University, San Marcos, between July and November of 2005. Three of the slide shows were designated as Neighborhood Watch communities with one of the three sign types posted, and the fourth slide show served as a control with no posted crime prevention signs. Each slide show consisted of 20 images of the home and community, along with four instruction slides. Part 2 (Study Two Data) replicated the basic effect from Study 1 and extended the research to examine the moderating role of community social economic status (SES) on the effects of the Neighborhood Watch signs. Participants were 547 undergraduate students recruited from the Psychology Department's Human Participant Pool, and from other lower division general education courses at California State University and Palomar Community College in San Marcos, between January and September 2006. A total of 12 slide shows were utilized in Study Two, such that each of the four sign conditions from Study One was represented across each of the three communities (Low, Middle, and High SES). Part 3 (Study Three Data) examined the potential for the physical condition of the Neighborhood Watch signs posted in the community to convey normative information about the presence and acceptance of crime in the community. Participants were 364 undergraduate students recruited from the Psychology Department's Human Participant Pool, and from other lower division general education courses at California State University and Palomar Community College in San Marcos, between October 2006 and March 2007. Study Three used the same generic (Injunctive Norm, Program Only) sign that was utilized in Studies One and Two. However, three variations (new, aged, and defaced) of the sign were used. The surveys used for Study One, Study Two, and Study Three, were identical. The data include variables on perceived crime rates, perceived likelihood of victimization, perceived community safety, community ratings, self-protective behavior, burglar's perspective, manipulation check, and demographics of the respondent.
Curated
Modern Policing and the Control of Illegal Drugs: Testing New Strategies in Oakland, California, and Birmingham, Alabama, 1987-1989 (ICPSR 9962)
Released/updated on: 2005-11-04
Geographic coverage: California, Alabama, Oakland, Birmingham
Time period: 1987-01-01--1989-01-01
These data were collected in Oakland, California, and Birmingham, Alabama, to examine the effectiveness of alternative drug enforcement strategies. A further objective was to compare the relative effectiveness of strategies drawn from professional- versus community-oriented models of policing. The professional model emphasizes police responsibility for crime control, whereas the community model stresses the importance of a police-citizen partnership in crime control. At each site, experimental treatments were applied to selected police beats. The Oakland Police Department implemented a high-visibility enforcement effort consisting of undercover buy-bust operations, aggressive patrols, and motor vehicle stops, while the Birmingham Police Department engaged in somewhat less visible buy-busts and sting operations. Both departments attempted a community-oriented approach involving door-to-door contacts with residents. In Oakland, four beats were studied: one beat used a special drug enforcement unit, another used a door-to-door community policing strategy, a third used a combination of these approaches, and the fourth beat served as a control group. In Birmingham, three beats were chosen: Drug enforcement was conducted by the narcotics unit in one beat, door-to-door policing, as in Oakland, was used in another beat, and a police substation was established in the third beat. To evaluate the effectiveness of these alternative strategies, data were collected from three sources. First, a panel survey was administered in two waves on a pre-test/post-test basis. The panel survey data addressed the ways in which citizens' perceptions of drug activity, crime problems, neighborhood safety, and police service were affected by the various policing strategies. Second, structured observations of police and citizen encounters were made in Oakland during the periods the treatments were in effect. Observers trained by the researchers recorded information regarding the roles and behaviors of police and citizens as well as police compliance with the experiment's procedures. And third, to assess the impact of the alternative strategies on crime rates, reported crime data were collected for time periods before and during the experimental treatment periods, both in the targeted beats and city-wide.
Curated
Patterns of Behavior in Police and Citizen Transactions: Boston, Chicago, and Washington, DC, 1966 (ICPSR 9086)
Released/updated on: 2005-11-04
Geographic coverage: District of Columbia, United States, Chicago, Illinois, Massachusetts, Boston
These data have been influential in the development of theories of police behavior. Variables in the collection supply information on the nature and context of encounters between citizens and the police. Data are included on the characteristics and roles of individuals involved in an encounter, relationships among the participants in the encounter, individuals' definitions of the situation after the arrival of police, specific police actions and manner of police behavior during the encounter, and informal characterizations by police of participants involved in the encounter. In cases where offender suspects were involved, information was collected on restraints employed, searches, interrogations, confessions, advisement of rights, booking, and other arrest processes.
Curated
Police Response Time Analysis, 1975 (ICPSR 7760)
Released/updated on: 2006-01-12
Time period: 1975-03-01--1975-12-01
This is a study of the relationship between the amount of time taken by police to respond to calls for service and the outcomes of criminal and noncriminal incidents in Kansas City, Missouri. Outcomes were evaluated in terms of police effectiveness and citizen satisfaction. Response time data were generated by timing telephone and radio exchanges on police dispatch tapes. Police travel time was measured and recorded by highly trained civilian observers. To assess satisfaction with police service, personal and telephone interviews were conducted with victims and witnesses who had made the calls to the police.
Curated
Pretrial Release Data, 1969 (ICPSR 7538)
Released/updated on: 1992-02-16
This data collection contains information gathered about pretrial release policies, procedures, and outcomes in a 1969 survey of police chiefs, judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, and bail project directors in 72 cities across the United States (with a higher proportion in Illinois). The research objectives included: (1) developing a model designed to determine the optimum percentage of defendants to hold prior to trial, (2) developing a model designed to make decisions on whether a defendant should be released or held in jail prior to trial, (3) comparing cities having bail reform projects with cities not having them, (4) comparing cities that required arrested persons to provide 10 percent of the bond with cities requiring 100 percent of the bond, and (5) determining the causes and effects of variations across cities in the percentage of defendants held in jail prior to trial. The survey focused on the processing of arrested persons prior to trial. Respondents answered questions about the organization and procedures in pretrial release, supplied approximate statistical data (e.g., percent of arraigned individuals who were released prior to their trial and failed to appear in court for their trial), estimated statistical trends in pretrial release during the previous five years, reported on attitudes in their communities toward administration of bail, rated the importance of several criteria when determining if a defendant was to be allowed pretrial release, and indicated whether their city had a bail reform program, and if so, its characteristics. Demographic data (ranging from population to income to crime rates) about the 72 cities represented in the survey are also included in the file.
Curated
Project on Policing Neighborhoods in Indianapolis, Indiana, and St. Petersburg, Florida, 1996-1997 (ICPSR 3160)
Released/updated on: 2007-06-01
Geographic coverage: Indiana, United States, St. Petersburg, Florida, Indianapolis
Time period: 1996-01-01--1997-01-01
The purpose of the Project on Policing Neighborhoods (POPN) was to provide an in-depth description of how the police and the community interact with each other in a community policing (CP) environment. Research was conducted in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1996 and in St. Petersburg, Florida, in 1997. Several research methods were employed: systematic observation of patrol officers (Parts 1-4) and patrol supervisors (Parts 5-14), in-person interviews with patrol officers (Part 15) and supervisors (Parts 16-17), and telephone surveys of residents in selected neighborhoods (Part 18). Field researchers accompanied their assigned patrol or supervising officer during all activities and encounters with the public during the shift. Field researchers noted when various activities and encounters with the public occurred during these "ride-alongs," who was involved, and what happened. In the resulting data files coded observation data are provided at the ride level, the activity level (actions that did not involve interactions with citizens), the encounter level (events in which officers interacted with citizens), and the citizen level. In addition to encounters with citizens, supervisors also engaged in encounters with patrol officers. Patrol officers and patrol supervisors in both Indianapolis and St. Petersburg were interviewed one-on-one in a private interviewing room during their regular work shifts. Citizens in the POPN study beats were randomly selected for telephone surveys to determine their views about problems in their neighborhoods and other community issues. Administrative records were used to create site identification data (Part 19) and data on staffing (Part 20). This data collection also includes data compiled from census records, aggregated to the beat level for each site (Part 21). Census data were also used to produce district populations for both sites (Part 22). Citizen data were aggregated to the encounter level to produce counts of various citizen role categories and characteristics and characteristics of the encounter between the patrol officer and citizens in the various encounters (Part 23). Ride-level data (Parts 1, 5, and 10) contain information about characteristics of the ride, including start and end times, officer identification, type of unit, and beat assignment. Activity data (Parts 2, 6, and 11) include type of activity, where and when the activity took place, who was present, and how the officer was notified. Encounter data (Parts 3, 7, and 12) contain descriptive information on encounters similar to the activity data (i.e., location, initiation of encounter). Citizen data (Parts 4, 8, and 13) provide citizen characteristics, citizen behavior, and police behavior toward citizens. Similarly, officer data from the supervisor observations (Parts 9 and 14) include characteristics of the supervising officer and the nature of the interaction between the officers. Both the patrol officer and supervisor interview data (Parts 15-17) include the officers' demographics, training and knowledge, experience, perceptions of their beats and organizational environment, and beliefs about the police role. The patrol officer data also provide the officers' perceptions of their supervisors while the supervisor data describe supervisors' perceptions of their subordinates, as well as their views about their roles, power, and priorities as supervisors. Data from surveyed citizens (Part 18) provide information about their neighborhoods, including years in the neighborhood, distance to various places in the neighborhood, neighborhood problems and effectiveness of police response to those problems, citizen knowledge of, or interactions with, the police, satisfaction with police services, and friends and relatives in the neighborhood. Citizen demographics and geographic and weight variables are also included. Site identification variables (Part 19) include ride and encounter numbers, site beat (site, district, and beat or community policing areas [CPA]), and sector. Staffing variables (Part 20) include district, shift, and staffing levels for various shifts. Census data (Part 21) include neighborhood, index of socioeconomic distress, total population, and total white population. District population variables (Part 22) include district and population of district. The aggregated citizen data (Part 23) provide the ride and encounter numbers, number of citizens in the encounter, counts of citizens by their various roles, and by sex, age, race, wealth, if known by the police, under the influence of alcohol or drugs, physically injured, had a weapon, or assaulted the police, counts by type of encounter, and counts of police and citizen actions during the encounter.
Curated
Public Attitudes Toward the Criminal Justice System and Criminal Victimization in North Carolina, 1971 (ICPSR 7670)
Released/updated on: 1992-02-16
Geographic coverage: North Carolina, United States
Time period: 1971-03-01--1971-07-01
This data collection contains the results of a survey of North Carolinians' attitudes about crime. The survey was conducted in 1971 by the Institute for Research in Social Science at the University of North Carolina. The purpose of the study was to assist agencies in assessing public attitudes toward policies in effect or under consideration, and to measure crime in the state. Questions were asked regarding citizen attitudes toward crime (e.g., the most important problem facing the country, the meaning of "law and order", and the degree of worry about and precaution taken by respondents against personal and property crimes), the frequency of respondents' criminal victimization, the reporting of crime by respondents, the amount of contact and satisfaction with criminal justice agencies such as the police, and respondents' attitudes toward the agencies that were part of the legal justice system in North Carolina. Other data include respondents' receipt of government scholarships, loans, and social services, and information about respondents' political participation, party/candidate support, feelings of political efficacy, and voting history. In addition, respondents were asked the degree of their knowledge and sources of information about federal district court decisions (e.g., on school busing in North Carolina), drug arrests, and the North Carolina Council on Crime and Delinquency. Demographic data include household composition, race, age, sex, marital status, occupation, military service, and length of residence.
Curated
Residential Neighborhood Crime Control Project: Hartford, Connecticut, 1973, 1975-1977, 1979 (ICPSR 7682)
Released/updated on: 1992-02-16
Geographic coverage: United States, Connecticut, Hartford
This data collection contains responses to victimization
surveys that were administered as part of both the planning and
evaluation stages of the Hartford Project, a crime opportunity
reduction program implemented in a residential neighborhood in
Hartford, Connecticut, in 1976. The Hartford Project was an experiment
in how to reduce residential burglary and street robbery/purse snatching
and the fear of those crimes. Funded through the Hartford Institute of
Criminal and Social Justice, the project began in 1973. It was based
on a new "environmental" approach to crime prevention: a comprehensive
and integrative view addressing not only the relationship among
citizens, police, and offenders, but also the effect of the physical
environment on their attitudes and behavior. The surveys were
administered by the Center for Survey Research at the University of
Massachusetts at Boston. The Center collected Hartford resident survey
data in five different years: 1973, 1975, 1976, 1977, and 1979. The
1973 survey provided basic data for problem analysis and
planning. These data were updated twice: in 1975 to gather baseline
data for the time of program implementation, and in the spring of 1976
with a survey of households in one targeted neighborhood of Hartford
to provide data for the time of implementation of physical changes
there. Program evaluation surveys were carried out in the spring of
1977 and two years later in 1979. The procedures for each survey were
essentially identical each year in order to ensure comparability
across time. The one exception was the 1976 sample, which was not
independent of the one taken in 1975. In each survey except 1979,
respondents reported on experiences during the preceding 12-month
period. In 1979 the time reference was the past two years. The survey
questions were very similar from year to year, with 1973 being the most
unique. All surveys focused on victimization, fear, and perceived risk
of being victims of the target crimes. Other questions explored
perceptions of and attitudes toward police, neighborhood problems, and
neighbors. The surveys also included questions on household and
respondent characteristics.
Curated
Retail-Level Heroin Enforcement and Property Crime in 30 Cities in Massachusetts, 1980-1986 (ICPSR 9667)
Released/updated on: 2006-03-30
Geographic coverage: United States, Massachusetts
Time period: 1980-01-01--1986-01-01
In undertaking this data collection, the principal investigators sought to determine (1) whether police enforcement against drug crimes, specifically heroin crimes, had any influence on the rates of nondrug crimes, and (2) what effect intensive law enforcement programs against drug dealers had on residents where those programs were operating. To achieve these objectives, data on crime rates for seven successive years were collected from police records of 30 cities in Massachusetts. Data were collected for the following offenses: murder, rape, robbery, assault, larceny, and automobile theft. The investigators also interviewed a sample of residents from 3 of those 30 cities. Residents were queried about their opinions of the most serious problem facing people today, their degree of concern about being victims of crime, and their opinions of the effectiveness of law enforcement agencies in handling drug problems.
Curated
Survey of Citizens' Attitudes Toward Community-Oriented Law Enforcement in Alachua County, Florida, 1996 (ICPSR 3491)
Released/updated on: 2006-03-30
Geographic coverage: United States, Florida
This study sought to identify the impact of the communication training program given to deputies in Alachua County, Florida, on the community's attitudes toward community law enforcement activities, particularly crime prevention and neighborhood patrols. To determine the success of the communication training for the Alachua deputies, researchers administered a survey to residents in the target neighborhood before the communication program was implemented (Part 1: Pretest Data) and again after the program had been established (Part 2: Post-Test Data). The survey instrument developed for use in this study was designed to assess neighborhood respondents' attitudes regarding (1) community law enforcement, defined as the assignment of deputies to neighborhoods on a longer term (not just patrol) basis with the goal of developing and implementing crime prevention programs, (2) the communication skills of deputies assigned to the community, and (3) the perceived importance of community law enforcement activities. For both parts, residents were asked how important it was to (1) have the same deputies assigned to their neighborhoods, (2) personally know the names of their deputies, and (3) work with the deputies on crime watch programs. Residents were asked if they agreed that the sheriff's office dealt with the neighborhood residents effectively, were good listeners, were easy to talk to, understood and were interested in what the residents had to say, were flexible, were trustworthy, were safe to deal with, and were straightforward, respectful, considerate, honest, reliable, friendly, polite, informed, smart, and helpful. Demographic variables include the gender, race, age, income, employment status, and educational level of each respondent.
Curated
Survey of Victimization and Attitudes Towards Crime and Law Enforcement in Boston and Chicago, 1966 (ICPSR 9085)
Released/updated on: 2006-03-30
Geographic coverage: United States, Chicago, Illinois, Massachusetts, Boston
Time period: 1965-07-01--1966-06-30
This data collection was designed to explore attitudes toward crime and the police and to examine factors related to criminal victimization and the reporting of crime incidents to the police. It combines a victimization survey with data on citizens' attitudes toward crime and the police, and information on behavior in response to crime or the threat of crime. Variables provide information about respondents' neighborhood characteristics, individual demographic attributes (e.g., age, race, gender, education, income, religion, marital status), perceptions of crime, social environment, respondents' views of the criminal justice system, experiences with the police, criminal victimization experiences, protective measures taken, victim-offender relationship, characteristics of the crime incident, police response to crime reports, and victim perceptions of and satisfaction with police response.