COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT AND FOCUSED DETERRENCE Brian P. Schaefer, M.S. Tad Hughes, J.D., Ph.D. Southern Police Institute University of Louisville

Started with Boston’s Operation Ceasefire in mid-1990s Applied in multiple jurisdictions Boston, MA; Cincinnati, OH; Lowell, MA; High Point, NC; Kansas City, MO; Louisville, KY Strategy has led to a 22 to 60 percent reduction in homicides across jurisdictions. Focused Deterrence

Key elements: Identify crime problem Problem-oriented Policing Create interagency working group Generate consistent enforcement Identify violent offenders and groups Specific and general deterrence Develop enforcement strategies to reduce crime Increase in certainty and severity Enlist community and social services Informal sanctions Communicate new rules Cost cannot be considered unless it is known Focused Deterrence

The role of the Community in Pulling Levers Improving the health of communities Informal social control Collective Efficacy Improving community and criminal justice collaboration Police Legitimacy

Collective Efficacy Collective efficacy is the process of activating or converting social ties to achieve desired outcomes. Collective efficacy is a dynamic factor. Communities with weak collective efficacy lack the closeness and trust—sometimes called social capital—to mobilize as a group and rid their street of troublemakers and disorder. Benefits (Eck and Rosenbaum, 1994): Improve police-community relations Increase legitimacy of police operations Reduce fear Decrease crime and Disorder

Legitimacy Procedural justice suggests that perceptions of fairness matter more than the outcomes (Tyler, 1988, 2000). This notion holds whether the situation is negotiations, punishments, or reward distribution (Lind & Tyler, 1988). Three primary process-based evaluations: Quality of decision making Quality of treatment Trustworthiness. Transparency is key for legitimacy (Tyler & Wakslak, 2004)

Hurdles to Engaging the Community What is the community? Disengagement Racial History

What is the community? Kennedy (2011) talks about 3 communities: Law enforcement The community in poorest neighborhoods The community of offenders Racial animosity in poor communities History of racial oppression Racial Profiling

Disengagement Communication between community participants and police is non- existent, adversarial, and/or one-way Informed and committed local and police leadership may not exist. There is a lack of community organizations through which neighborhood residents can participate Sometimes there are organizations, but the leadership is not well informed. Sometimes the only community-based organizations that exist are concerned with serving clients not in solving community problems. Community residents may feel that their neighborhood is lost and they are powerless.

Building Effective Community Groups Know your problem Identify what you intend to accomplish Identify Stakeholders What parties need to be involved? Secure Commitments from participating parties Community Teambuilding Clearly identify the extent of the collaboration and its benefits Identify resources you will need Develop tasks and a corresponding timeline Be clear about the roles and responsibilities of group members Evaluate Quick Wins (Tilley, 1999)

Potential Strategies for The community in Pulling Levers Strategy Call-Ins Moral Voices Street workers Community Accountability Boards

Call-Ins: Several Approaches Formal Call-Ins Focuses on reaching out to gangs and community groups and attempting to change their behavior. Community Call-Ins Informal discussions Focused on community aspects rather than law enforcement consequences Homes Visits Associated with drug-market interventions. Using “Influentials”

Community as Moral Voice Common themes in call-ins (Kennedy, 2010): All of us would like to change All parties respect you There is no justification for the violence The community needs the violence to stop Ideas of the street code are wrong Law enforcement, social services, and the community have been part of the problem You are valuable to the community

Street workers Serve as a community representative for project. Focused on outreach activities related to violence interruption, mediation, and spreading non-violence messages to the community. Potential Issues: High turnover Inadequate training Criminal activity

Community Accountability Boards (CAB) Serves as an alternative to the traditional criminal justice responses and focuses on providing victims (individuals and community members) a voice in repairing the harm caused by crime. The CAB is made of community members. Goal is for offenders to understand the harm they cause. Primarily used for misdemeanor offenders.

Pulling Levers and CAB Community Accountability Boards provide the Moral Voice Centralized community and government collaboration that can provide long-term assistance independent on law enforcement strategies. Building legitimacy through collective response to crime. Leveraging the legitimacy for future participation

CAB and Pulling Levers Overview