An overview of the urban crime problem containing the results of a number of research studies and consultant papers. This volume makes use of the results of three major public surveys to examine the problem of unreported crime, public attitudes toward crime and law enforcement, the characteristics of victims and victim-offender relationships, and a variety of other crime problems. Chapters are devoted to the special problems of the economic burden of crime, white collar crime, and an appraisal of the current national system of statistical accounting on crime and criminal justice matters. There are three appendices prepared by consultants, two methodological notes and a series of tables of crime rates for index offenses by city rank.

First Published in 1997. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Proactive policing, as a strategic approach used by police agencies to prevent crime, is a relatively new phenomenon in the United States. It developed from a crisis in confidence in policing that began to emerge in the 1960s because of social unrest, rising crime rates, and growing skepticism regarding the effectiveness of standard approaches to policing. In response, beginning in the 1980s and 1990s, innovative police practices and policies that took a more proactive approach began to develop. This report uses the term "proactive policing" to refer to all policing strategies that have as one of their goals the prevention or reduction of crime and disorder and that are not reactive in terms of focusing primarily on uncovering ongoing crime or on investigating or responding to crimes once they have occurred. Proactive policing is distinguished from the everyday decisions of police officers to be proactive in specific situations and instead refers to a strategic decision by police agencies to use proactive police responses in a programmatic way to reduce crime. Today, proactive policing strategies are used widely in the United States. They are not isolated programs used by a select group of agencies but rather a set of ideas that have spread across the landscape of policing. Proactive Policing reviews the evidence and discusses the data and methodological gaps on: (1) the effects of different forms of proactive policing on crime; (2) whether they are applied in a discriminatory manner; (3) whether they are being used in a legal fashion; and (4) community reaction. This report offers a comprehensive evaluation of proactive policing that includes not only its crime prevention impacts but also its broader implications for justice and U.S. communities.

Experts from Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom, explore five potential paths to privacy protection.

This paper outlines the Government's proposals for reform of policing, with a move away from bureaucracy towards more democratic accountability. There will be directly elected Police and Crime Commissioners, representing their communities and understanding their crime and anti-social behaviour priorities. They will hold chief constables to account for achieving them, and will be able to fire her or him if they do not. Chief constables will be responsible for the day to day operations of their police force but accountable to the public via these individuals and not Whitehall. Regular beat meetings will allow people to challenge the police's performance and accessible 'street level' crime data will shine a light on local crime trends and concerns. Central targets will be abolished, and the police will be encouraged to use their professional judgment in performing their job. The Government will create a new National Crime Agency to lead the fight against organised crime, protect the borders and provide services best delivered at national level.