Safe Homes, Safe Neighborhoods: Collaborative Strategies for - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Safe Homes, Safe Neighborhoods: Collaborative Strategies for Reducing Crime at Dangerous Places Dr. David Kirk, UT Department of Sociology and Population Research Center UT Opportunity Forum February 14, 2014

Outline • Crime in Austin • Explain why crime concentrates • Solutions for dangerous places

Violent Crime Rate (per 100,000 residents), City of Austin 600 500 400 300 200 100 0 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 Source: APD Annual Crime and Traffic Reports; Chief's Monthly Report (December 2013)

Property Crime Rate (per 100,000 residents), City of Austin 7,000 6,000 5,000 4,000 3,000 2,000 1,000 0 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 Source: APD Annual Crime and Traffic Reports; Chief's Monthly Report (December 2013)

Concentration of 911 Calls in 2011, North Austin Cumulative % of All Number of Calls Observed No. of Places Places Cumulative % of Calls 0 14227 100.0% 1 16116 60.5% 100.0% 2 1776 15.8% 83.5% 3 937 10.9% 79.9% 4 560 8.3% 77.0% 5 367 6.8% 74.7% 6 281 5.7% 72.9% 7 232 5.0% 71.1% 8 152 4.3% 69.5% 9 122 3.9% 68.2% 10 113 3.6% 67.1% 11 92 3.2% 66.0% 12 75 3.0% 64.9% 13 71 2.8% 64.0% 14 41 2.6% 63.1% 15 42 2.5% 62.5% 16 46 2.3% 61.8% 17 47 2.2% 61.1% 18 34 2.1% 60.3% 19 41 2.0% 59.6% 20+ 678 1.9% 58.8% Note: includes all CFS in Edward Sector in 2011. The exception is that 1,746 calls without a final call disposition were omitted. Places include addresses and intersections.

Concentration of Crime in North Austin • Between 2007 and 2012, 135,000 index crimes were reported in North Central Austin (APD’s Edward Sector). • There are 1,193 census blocks in Edward Sector. • Just 1% of the blocks accounted for 25% of the crime. • Just 5% of the blocks accounted for 57% of the crime.

Index Crimes, APD's Edward Sector Other 99% Census Blocks Top 1% Census Blocks 18,000 16,000 14,000 13% decline relative to 2007 12,000 10,000 8,000 6,000 3% increase 4,000 2,000 0 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012

Summary • Crime has declined in Austin. • But…not every place has benefitted. • Crime is highly concentrated in Austin, and the volume of crime has been relatively stable at many hot spots of crime despite declining trends overall.

Solutions

Why arrest is often not enough • Crime is the result of the convergence of 1) motivated offenders and 2) suitable targets in the 3) absence of guardians. • Without eliminating the opportunity for crime, another motivated offender may simply replace the arrested offender. Hence, the crime problem does not go away. • Person-centered vs. place-centered solutions to crime.

Civil and Criminal Solutions to Problem Properties • Nuisance strategies target the place of criminal activity and work with owners and managers to alter the underlying conditions that are attractive to drug dealers and other nuisance criminals. • Nuisance abatement is a process whereby a government agency or other entity compels the owner of a property that is the source of a nuisance—through the threat of lawsuit—to bring about an end to the nuisance. • The most effective nuisance strategies involve collaborative teams of police, fire, code inspectors, and legal.