Evaluating community policing: quality police service and fear of crime

Discusses the relationship between quality service and fear of crime as measures of community policing. Reports on a survey which asked 500 residents of Austin, Texas, their perception of safety (an aspect of fear of crime) and their perception of the quality of police service. Indicates that there is little relationship between citizen’s perception of safety and the quality of police services. The strongest relationship was found between perception of safety in the home and citizen’s general knowledge of the police department. Suggests that fear of crime is in many ways a theoretical concept that needs to be explained better if practitioners of community policing are going to measure their success against it.