| As most people are aware, the national reports on trends in crime indicate a decrease in the rate of serious crime over the past several years. Although good news, communities need to be aware that measuring crime and developing public policy should be built on more than national rates as calculated by the Uniform Crime Reports. It is vitally important that each community put crime into context, recognizing the relationship that other social indicators can have on the overall increase or decrease of crime in individual communities. This information can then be used for more informed policy development that can be tailor made to fit the community's unique situational factors. This paper explains how a mid-size city established a protocol for putting crime into context through integration of a social and crime indicators data base and use of surveys with service providers to prioritize concerns. A model for transitioning information into policy is provided. |
Updated 05/20/2006