Bringing Victims Into Community Policing

Source: (2003) Washington, DC: US Dept of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.

The first section of the guide defines repeat victimization and discusses its significance within overall crime totals. It indicates how analysis of data collected from nontraditional as well as traditional sources can lead to a better understanding of the challenges of repeat victimization. How the effectiveness of the first response by police can be enhanced through the adoption of an analytic, problem solving approach that includes victims is also explained. Further, it discusses how the use of a graduated response, geared to the victim’s level of risk, can prevent repeat victimization. The second section of the guide presents a model for a departmental policy for the prevention of repeat victimization. The model addresses the roles of first response, graduated response, victim assistance, data recording and analysis, dispatching and reporting systems, training, and performance evaluation. The third section of the guide presents an overview of the significance of the first response to crime in preventing revictimization. The concluding section of the guide is composed of three “first response” guides for the crimes of domestic violence, residential burglary, and auto theft. The guide for first response to domestic violence highlights the need for police officers to understand the nature of domestic violence and the prior history. The guide for residential burglary explains how to engage the cooperation of victims in reducing the risk of repeat victimization; and the guide for first response to auto theft discusses the kinds of questions police officers should ask victims in order to determine the nature of the theft incident and reduce the risk of repeat victimization. Abstracts courtesy of National Criminal Justice Reference Service, www.ncjrs.org.