by Richard G. Lanzara

Created on: July 30, 2008

Stopping crime requires a total community effort. It can be done, but the people who live in crime areas need to understand how to cooperate effectively with the authorities who are responsible for helping them in order to effectively stop crime. This includes their representatives in government as well as the enforcement authorities responsible for upholding the law. People in the community need to understand or learn basic information like how and when to call for the police. They need to know what kind of information the police need. Information like the nature of the complaint require certain phrases and terms that will increase the likelihood of a rapid response. The number of people involved and general descriptions of those responsible is also necessary.

Complaints such as, "There's a group of noisy kids." will seldom produce a response as rapidly or effectively as, "There's a group of three 17 to 20 year old (white-hispanic-balck) males with hooded t-shirts, jeans and sneakers who are causing a disturbance on our street and rudely disturbing and confronting adults who pass by. I think that a fight might develop soon. Please respond quickly." Although many people may not like to do it, giving your name and number also helps the authorities to verify their actions and allows them to do their job more effectively.
Often times just quality-of-life complaints from residents will make those areas more difficult for criminals to commit crimes, but it is very important that the police receive these calls otherwise they may ignore these areas. Criminals will gradually learn that these are high risk areas were they may be arrested and will begin to avoid them. This may take a few weeks or months in order to see results, but eventually the criminals will go where the authorities aren't.

It requires more than just one or two residents to make such calls. One call from a single resident may be viewed as just another call from that person who constantly complains. It is important that as many residents as possible call when they see something that they consider a threat to their neighborhood or their families. Often people don't want to be involved either because they don't trust the authorities or they fear reprisals from the criminals. They should understand that this is their neighborhood and that they need to at least anonymously report potential criminal activity without creating threats to their family. Placing appropriate and timely calls to the proper authorities

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