Neighbourhood watch and fear of crime

Abstract

This study investigated the effect that a Neighbourhood Watch program in the locality of Santa Venera had on its participants vis-a-vis a reduction in expressed fear of crime. Results showed that in spite of an active NW program, fear of crime still persisted amongst the participants. This could partly be explained by the fact that a high percentage of respondents had themselves been victims of crime and also had knowledge of other crime victims, two factors considered to increase fear of crime. A factor which is associated with fear reduction is the level of police presence on the neighbourhood. Unfortunately, the respondents were far from satisfied with the police, a negative aspect when one considers that any NW program needs police public co-operation for its success. On the positive side, most of the reasons that the respondents gave that contributed to their fears could easily be adjusted through fear reduction strategies that have been proved successful abroad and which could locally be incorporated into any NW program.