Safety greatly impacts property management. Reducing vandalism, theft and similar crimes, for example, will lower property maintenance and replacement costs. Reducing all types of crime will enhance the marketability of a property, thus enabling property owners to attract more responsible tenants.
Safety services should, therefore, be included in any resident services program. Resident services managers should be actively engaged in creating partnerships with residents and community stakeholders in order to develop effective safety efforts for both the immediate property and the surrounding neighborhood.
Crime Prevention Components
The schematic triangle below illustrates the philosophy behind developing and improving any crime prevention effort. As indicated by the diagram, the occurrence of crime depends on three interrelated factors: the offender, the victim and the opportunity.
If you eliminate one of these factors, the triangle will collapse. For example, a person walking down a dark alley in which there is no mugger will not be mugged. A person walking down a crowded, well-lit street next to a mugger is equally safe because the situation lacks opportunity. Likewise, a mugger hiding in a dark alley won’t mug anyone if nobody walks through the alley.
As you can see, eliminating the opportunity for a crime to occur prevents crime. Most importantly, the opportunity for a crime to occur is usually provided by a physical location, such as a dark alley, an unlocked basement or an unkempt playground. A community coalition can significantly influence the surrounding environment to decrease opportunities for crime.
OSCAR Problem Solving Methodology
As you begin to work with the community to address crime prevention, security and quality-of-life issues, you are likely to encounter difficulties. The techniques of collaborative problem solving outlined in the OSCAR methodology below place you, your neighbors and other community stakeholders on the same side to resolve problems. You can implement the OSCAR process, as outlined in this document, to solve a problem on your property or in your community.
Observe - Identify a problem or a condition that affects safety on your property or in your community. Define what is happening. A problem might involve a type of behavior, a place, a person or group of people, a special event or time of day or any combination of these factors.
Scrutinize - Analyze the problem. Why is it happening? What conditions encourage it? Who is involved? What time of day does the problem occur? Develop a theory about the cause of the problem.
Collaborate - Find allies. Who else is affected by the problem? Who are the stakeholders? Identify them and get together. Discuss the problem and define it as a group.
Act - Develop a strategy for intervention. What techniques might solve the problem? What are the roles of the various stakeholders? Decide what to do and then start doing it.
Review - After a specified time, assess what effect your strategy has had. What worked? What did not work? How can you measure your progress? What could be done differently? What should be done next?
This section includes the following resources:
1. Facts on Community Safety and Crime Prevention: This fact sheet defines community safety, highlights important facts and briefly outlines the critical components to an effective community safety program.
2. Get Started in 10 Steps: These 10 steps describe ways to launch or expand community safety efforts within your property and neighborhood.
3. How to Make Your Property Crime-Resistant: Crime requires opportunity. Use this survey to evaluate the current opportunities that your property offers to potential criminals and learn how to minimize those opportunities.
4. Checklist for Starting a Community Watch: This checklist is designed to help you start a community (or block) watch program, learn about popular enhancements and guide you in building partnerships to maximize the effectiveness of your community’s watch efforts.
5. Matching Volunteers to the Right Role: Use this short survey to match a prospective volunteer’s motivation with the type of work best suited to him or her.
6. Safe Neighborhood Questionnaire: When completed by residents, this questionnaire can help you to identify safety issues that are important to the community. You can compile the information and create a composite to lead your discussions with law enforcement agencies and local government officials.
8. Community Safety Survey: This survey is designed to help you gather the views of the broader community concerning public safety. It engages businesses, schools and residents in gathering key information.
9. Identifying Drug “Hot Spots” in a Business Community: This survey is designed to help identify and address actual or potential illegal drug activity within a community business district. A resident volunteer completes the survey based on a visual inspection of a particular business, its grounds and the block on which it is located. High-risk areas may become designated as drug “hot spots” for the purpose of targeting anti-crime resources.
10. Safety Standards for 5- to 14-Year-Olds: This checklist, adapted from information provided by the National After-School Association, will help you identify potential safety issues for your youth programs.
