Prevention Works

Another Happy Birthday to McGruff!

McGruff the Crime Dog® celebrated his 29^th birthday on July 1! Back in 1980, a dog in a rumpled trench coat said, "You don't know me yet. But you will." Since then, McGruff has taught millions of people that the police can't fight crime alone. Crime prevention is everybody's business and everyone can help "Take A Bite Out Of Crime®."

McGruff is one of the most recognizable figures in the United States today and an icon that helps law enforcement connect with children and adults alike. While McGruff was launched in response to a rise in violent crime, today he promotes a message that all crime must be prevented. McGruff began as the brain child of law enforcement organizations, concerned citizens, and federal officials and the original McGruff costume has spawned more than 3,000 active costumes in all 50 states and many overseas military installations. McGruff’s picture has appeared on a U.S. postage stamp, he has his own monster truck, and he even has a few cars large and small (a Corvette, a go-cart, and even his own Matchbox Car).

Not only is McGruff used to connect law enforcement with the community at the street level, but his award winning messages that are conveyed via radio, TV, and the Internet reach millions of people each year. He works hard to promote prevention messages, and his messages have evolved to include a broad repertoire of crime prevention topics. He has promoted joining your local Neighborhood Watch, staying safe at school or work, addressing gun-related crimes, and preventing bullying and cyber bullying, hate crime, and much more. Recently, McGruff joined the fight to prevent online crimes as well. Whether he is talking to people about identity theft, cyberbullying, cell phone safety, or online safety in general his messages are ones that the American people listen to and his tips go far to prevent these crimes.

Whether you are young or old, McGruff has surely made an impact on how you stay safe from crime. McGruff is prepared to make appearances at all types of safety events, whether it’s your company picnic, neighborhood street fair, back to school night, or summer camp. McGruff is always ready to bring his message of crime prevention to others. He is especially excited at the prospect of visiting hundreds of communities during the second annual Celebrate Safe Communities initiative in October.

Again, happy birthday McGruff! Thank you for all you have done to help people across the nation learn how to keep themselves, their families, and their communities safe from crime. For more information about McGruff visit NCPC.org or McGruff.org, and if you would like McGruff to visit your community email mcgruff@ncpc.org. Remember it’s up to you to help McGruff “Take A Bite Out Of Crime®.”

The Prison Entreneurship Program

PEP Program Prevents Recidivism

A great number of inmates in U.S. prisons possess entrepreneurial skills that they learned on the streets. These inmates, who are former drug dealers, hustlers, and gang leaders, understand the business process. The nonprofit Prison Entrepreneurship Program is dedicated to channeling these ex-offenders’ skills into executive positions in legitimate businesses.

PEP keeps our communities safer by keeping these ex-offenders from returning to lives of crime. The program helps these people become legitimate business people, so that their former illegal business is no longer their only path to success. The organization is effective because it connects ex-offenders with business talent by providing mentoring and MBA-level business courses and by fostering entrepreneurial enthusiasm.

It is fortunate that these former criminals can be part of the Prison Entrepreneurship Program. Without the skills to get new jobs or start their own businesses, they might not be able to earn a salary, since ex-offenders rarely find employment after they get out of prison. This is because of the reluctance of employers to hire ex-offenders. The problems that many released offenders face in finding employment and obtaining money may lead them back to a life of crime. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, at least 650,000 offenders will be released from prison in the coming year, and two-thirds of those people will be rearrested for repeated criminal activity within the next three years. These statistics contrast with the experience of PEP graduates. Of all PEP graduates, only 5 percent have recidivated.

The program upholds the concept of moral decision-making and the importance of spiritual discipline. PEP connects the ex-offenders enrolled in its program with others who have taken a similar path, providing them with a brotherhood that shares a common past and a common goal.

And yet, should people who were criminal entrepreneurs be rewarded for the skills they picked up in their illegal activities? Is it safe to trust these people and put them back in business? Can we be sure that they will not secretly use their legitimate businesses as a cover for more illegal dealings?

The Path to Crime Prevention

Everybody talks about preventing crime, but most of us have no idea how to accomplish that goal. But preventing crime is within your reach, and so is showing that path to others. Here are some suggestions that will help prevent crime and victimization

1. Write to lawmakers and civic officials and express your concerns about victimization.
2. Organize a local group of interested people into an action team, and discuss ways to raise awareness and reduce victimization.
3. Everybody should share instances of victimization they observe through crime prevention websites or blogs and keep aware of what’s happening around them.
4. Remember, when citizens within their own community become actively involved in watching, caring, and protecting their neighborhood, criminal activity is reduced! Active participation is the only way crime watchers can effectively deter criminal behavior.
5. It’s never too early for children to learn about crime prevention. Parents can encourage children by teaching them to read articles about crime prevention.
6. Teachers should also get involved in educating their students in crime prevention activities by conducting crime prevention events (visit www.ncpc.org/training for ideas).
7. Support organizations that help people bring awareness of crime prevention activities by donating to them.
8. Think of crime prevention itself. That will keep you away from crime.
9. Government should work toward recidivism. If offenders are uneducated and unskilled, they will be likely to commit crimes again.
10. We should not only think of crime prevention, but also try to control the factors at the root of crime. The causes of crime include economic situations and poverty and poor social environments and family structures. Children are closely linked to these factors; the offender of tomorrow is often the vulnerable child of today. So we need to teach our children about acceptable social behavior and be supportive of them in any situation.
11. Education is a companion that no misfortune can depress, no crime can destroy, no enemy can alienate, no despotism can enslave.

Cell Phones Gone Wild?

You have heard the stories about sexting in the news lately. Most of the stories take place in schools and involve teenagers. But, what is sexting? Sexting is described as the act of sending sexually explicit messages or photos electronically, primarily between cell phones.

Roughly 20 percent of teens admit to participating in “sexting,” according to a nationwide survey by the National Campaign to Support Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.

Sexting occurs many times each day. These photos and messages can end up on social networking sites such as MySpace or Facebook, where in many cases they are out there for everyone to see, including law enforcement. In the eyes of law enforcement, many types of sexting are crimes, and sexting can lead to criminal prosecution.

The media has focused attention on sexting cases in Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Virginia. Ohio’s case involved an 18-year-old girl who committed suicide after a naked picture of herself, which she had texted, was forwarded around her high school.

It is important to teach kids to proactively protect themselves online and through cell phone communication. The Institute for Responsible Online and Cell-Phone Communication (I.R.O.C), a New Jersey-based nonprofit organization, helps communities protect themselves through one of their programs. You can also practice the following tips in your home.

• Set up the home computer in a common area.
• Purchase filtering, monitoring, or software blocking tools.
• Only post information that you want everyone to know or see.
• Teach respectful online communication.
• Trust your instincts.  If someone or something online makes you feel uncomfortable, notify your parents or a trusted adult.

Share your thoughts on this subject. Is sexting just another fad in the wave of new technology? Has it been a subject of concern for years and cases now just being called to attention?

How Many Bars Do You Get Behind Bars?

A prisoner, already incarcerated for a drug conviction, was found guilty of using a contraband cell phone from jail to order the murder of a witness in another upcoming trial. The victim, 38 year old Carl Lackl Jr., was gunned down in a drive-by shooting outside his home in Baltimore, a week before he was to testify in that trial. This crime is the most heinous outcome of a growing and startling problem—cell phones and their availability to prisoners behind bars.

Recent simultaneous prisoner disturbances across the country were coordinated through illegal cell phone calls by an incarcerated gang leader in an attempt to establish dominance for his gang. Other crimes, including threats and murder, have been traced back to prisoners ordering “hits” from prison by use of cell phone to intimidate witnesses or settle gangland scores. It would seem a simple solution to jam such signals within the prison walls and nip that kind of communication in the bud. But it is not that easy. The Federal Communications Commission’s regulations prohibit just that. Since 1934, when cell phones were a fantasy of science fiction, it has been illegal to interfere with signals regulated by the FCC. Two bills currently in Congress are intended to address this problem. The Safe Prisons Communications Act of 2009 (House bill H.R.560 and Senate bill S.251) propose to amend the Communications Act of 1934 to allow the jamming of cell phone signals within prison walls. Proponents say this would eliminate the illegal conversations that allow drug lords and gang leaders to continue their criminal enterprises while locked up.

CTIA – The Wireless Association (The International Association for the Wireless Communications Industry) sees that proposition differently asserting that (1) such jamming would needlessly inconvenience nearby consumer and public safety wireless users, and (2) it is against the law. CTIA’s questions are: How are prisoners getting access to contraband cell phones? A recent intercepted shipment to a corrections institution from a food services delivery truck that contained 26 cell phones and chargers and other contraband shows us one method.

Another technology, called Intelligent Network Access Controller or INAC, may come to the rescue. This technology enables allowable wireless communications in a prison (or other locale) to an approved subset of users— say, users a warden would approve. While everyday cell phone use is a marvel of today’s technology, their current use by prisoners to access their outside networks and continue to work their nefarious deeds while locked up is unacceptable. We’d like to “hear you now.” Post a comment below and tell us your thoughts.

Have A Safe Summer!

It’s that time of year again; the time that people, especially children, look forward to the most. Yes, you guessed it – it’s summer break time! The time when families go on vacation, children are out of school, the weather is warm and inviting, and the beach is calling. It’s a much needed time for children and parents to relax from the demands of school and work. It can be a time when one may let his or her guard down and not be as attentive as he or she should be.

Unfortunately, criminals do not take a break. Many times, criminals may see this as an opportunity to take advantage of relaxed vigilance. In recent weeks in the Washington, DC, area, sexual predators have entered unlocked doors and windows and preyed upon women. A high school student was sexually assaulted and almost abducted while walking on a wooded path to high school. And in Prince Georges County, a county just outside of the District, home invasion robberies have doubled.

As summertime kicks in, let’s remember to be safe and to teach and remind our children how to be safe. On NCPC’s website, there are hundreds of safety tips directed toward every audience and almost every topic. Below are just some of the examples:

Travel Tips

• If you are about to travel, check out our vacation tips (pdf) and our preparedness guide (pdf) for travelers.
• Don’t let your guard down when driving or filling up the car for that road trip. Look at these tips for car theft (pdf) and gas station theft prevention.

Safety Tips for Children and Youth

• Have your children check out the bike safety and streetwise tips (pdf).
• If your child will be home alone, share these tips with them.
• Review these facts with your teens about how NOT to be a victim of crime.

Safety Tips for Parents and Adults

• If your children will be spending more time on the Internet this summer, share these tips with them to help keep them safe.
• Before you go on vacation, use these convenient checklists for apartments (pdf) and homes (pdf) to help prevent intruders.
• If you want to prevent yourself from being a victim of violent crime, check out this list.

The bottom line is that we all need to continue to be attentive to our surroundings. Protect yourself and your loved ones by reducing the chance for criminals to victimize you and your family. NCPC wants you to have a fun and safe summer!

Battling Gangs: A Novel Use of Civil Injunctions

According National District Attorney's Association (NDAA), the United States has 30,000 gangs with 800,000 members whose crimes, tactics, and strategies are getting more sophisticated each day.  Communities and local law enforcement agencies are responding with new strategies as well—in this case, the use of civil injunctions to disrupt gang activities. John Wilkinson, an attorney and program manager for the Gun Violence and Homeland Security programs of the NDAA, says that using civil injunctions to disrupt gangs is not a cure all, but can be useful for communities that are serious about reducing the influence of gangs.

In a recent NCPC conference call, Mr. Wilkinson explained that an injunction is a court order to stop individuals, their associates, or an organization from preventing an individual or the general public from enjoying life and property.  Civil injunctions previously were used to prevent harm to the community by a factory or business; however California began to take this new anti-gang approach with  criminal street gangs because the law considers them identifiable associations (due to their “colors,” “signs,” or tattoos). The primary tool of the civil gang injunction is its ability to stop gang members from associating in a defined geographical area. For example, if a gang hangs out on the corner and a homeowner can’t sit on his or her nearby porch without being disturbed or intimidated, relief may come in the form of a civil injunction. Such civil injunctions are not aimed at recovering monies or compensation for lost enjoyment or happiness, but are aimed at disrupting the daily criminal activities of the gang and removing the gang’s ability to derive its strength from associating with other members. Additional civil injunction restrictions could result in curfews and prohibitions against weapons, drugs, alcohol, graffiti (or graffiti tools), forcible recruiting, or against efforts by gang leaders to keep members from leaving the gang.

It was noted during the discussion that in order to be targeted, the gang must be creating a public nuisance and be responsible for activities that are continuous and ongoing. Additionally, it is necessary to demonstrate a defined geographic area that is impacted by the gang and the selected gang must have identifiable members. When filing suit, notice of the suit must be provided to individual gang members. Attempts must be made to serve all members of the gang with the injunction; the injunction can only be enforced on members who have been served. To protect residents from retaliation by the gang, law enforcement agencies should request the injunction.

Using these tools, police and communities are reclaiming neighborhoods, reducing crime, and restoring peace. Here’s a resource to help from the NDAA website.  Mr. Wilkinson has additional information and technical assistance to help your community pursue civil injunctions against gangs. He can be reached at John.Wilkinson@ndaa.org.

Breaking the Code of Silence

While there is still debate over how the recession will continue to impact crime over the next few years, there is little debate about the important role that the community plays in the fight against crime. While communities must take the lead, I continually hear from law enforcement officers that communities are not engaged. There are many factors at work that keep community representatives from attending police-community meetings, and that keep residents from reporting crime and working with police to both prevent and combat crime.

A recent report from the Police Executive Forum (PERF) that was funded by the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services highlights some of the factors that have led to a “stop snitching” movement. We all know the reasons why people are reluctant to report crime or take a stand against it. In all likelihood, we have experienced these factors where we live—fear of retaliation, mistrust between residents and police, and the ineffectiveness of the judicial system. While fear is a real factor, 74 percent of those agencies participating in the Executive Session that the PERF report was based on indicated that they knew about only a few isolated incidents of retaliation.

This issue hit home for me even more when I recently attended the funeral of a long-time community activist, Ms. Loree Murray, in Washington, DC. Ms. Murray was in her nineties, had started a community organization that works against gangs and drugs, and literally changed the face of her community. She was the victim of retaliation on more than one occasion—her house had been burned down, her tires slashed, her life threatened, and yet she persisted. Why? What made her persist? I don’t know the answer, but this is what I do know about Ms. Murray. She had a strong relationship with police officers and managers over the years—one that was based upon honesty, communication, and accountability. Ms. Murray was not what we call in the community organizing world, “a lone ranger leader.” She used her gift of persuasion and her personal strength as an elder to develop a cadre of community activists who joined her on patrol, stood with her at numerous community events and activities, and joined with her in a phone tree when the situation necessitated reporting crime. Finally, she treated all in her community with respect, but expected you to respect her and her home (the larger community) in return.

How do we get more Loree Murrays in the world? How do we get the community engaged to report crime and work with law enforcement? Some police departments initiate community policing efforts. Others change how they handle community contacts. The New York Police Department added a third step to its Stop and Frisk procedures: “Explain.” Another law enforcement agency initiated a more customer-friendly police stop. Most recently, I read about two technological approaches to bridge the police-community gap. The Yarmouth Police Department in Massachusetts, like many law enforcement agencies across the country, initiated an online reporting system. The Detroit Police Department recently announced a unique multi-media approach. Its three-phase plan includes a Network Alert system that allows people to sign up to get information via text or email. A 411 tip line will allow those who fear retaliation or mistrust police to report crime anonymously. The most unique approach is a Detroit Police Department page on the social media sites Facebook and MySpace that are aimed at reaching more young people.

Decreased community involvement in the fight against crime will exacerbate crime trends in the years to come. We must act now to continually create avenues to reach all residents in the fight to protect our communities. Is technology the answer? Are relationships the key? I personally believe that relationships, communications, and involvement are all key to successful police-community relations and will produce safer communities.

For more information on community crime prevention resources, visit www.ncpc.org. For more information on the PERF research,"The Stop Snitching Phenomenon: Breaking the Code of Silence" at the COPS office, visit http://www.cops.usdoj.gov/RIC/ResourceDetail.aspx?RID=514.

Highlighting Norms Can Reduce Crime

There is a common perception that public service messaging is not as effective as commercial messaging in influencing people's behavior. According to research (pdf) by Professor Robert Cialdini, even though commercial messages often have greater budgets and production values, there may be an unintended psychological message in many PSAs that undermines their public interest message.

Most PSAs rely on a technique called "injunctive norms" in which a certain type of behavior is shown to be either socially approved or disapproved. This type of message can successfully motivate people because most of us are interested in avoiding the disapproval of others. For instance, a PSA that depicts a teenager positively for abstaining from drug use can be persuasive.

The problem arises when that injunctive message is combined with a "descriptive norm" that portrays the drug use by the teen's peers as commonplace. Just as people are motivated to behave appropriately, they are also motivated to imitate the actions of their peers – even if those actions are viewed disapprovingly by society in general. According to Professor Cialdini's research, the most effective ad in this situation would combine a depiction of most teens abstaining from drug use with disapproval of a single teen's use of drugs. In this way, both descriptive and injunctive norms could work in concert.

This research has broader implications for crime prevention than the content of public service announcements. When communicating with people about crime, stress that most people do not engage in criminal behavior, and that criminal activity is met with deep disapproval by all parts of society.

The Ultimate Price—and Responsibility

The National Crime Prevention Council mourns the loss of four police officers in the shooting tragedy that unfolded recently in Oakland, CA.  Sergeants Mark Dunakin, Erv Romans, Daniel Sakai, and Officer John Hege were lost in the line of duty defending the safety of the people of Oakland, the safety that all of us, in communities across the country, depend on and, all too often, take for granted.  The loss of these officers was the most in one day since the September 11th attacks.

What caused this tragedy? Were there warning signs or other indicators that could have alerted us to the extreme danger the shooter represented?  Were there systems and practices in place that would have tipped us off to the possibility of a tragedy occurring?  The gunman, recently released from prison for violating a previous parole, was monitored by a parole officer whose caseload was 70 parolees, well above the American Parole and Probation Association’s recommended ratio of 50 cases per parole offer. Seven thousand parolees return to Alameda County, in which Oakland is situated, each year, all needing services, counseling, a job, and hope.

In the United States, more than 5.1 million adult men and women are supervised in the community, either on probation or parole. Every year more than 700,000 previously incarcerated persons return to their communities. The situation is exacerbated by the often unproductive time spent by inmates when they are behind bars, the drain on communities while its inhabitants are incarcerated, and the inability of communities and systems to re-integrate ex-offenders upon their eventual return.

"California's parole population is now so large and its parole agents are so overburdened that parolees who represent a serious public safety threat are not watched closely," a National Institute of Justice-funded report released last year, and quoted in the Oakland Tribune, states. "And those who wish to go straight cannot get the help they need."

Some people knew that the gunman had recently obtained a gun (in violation of his parole), but did nothing with that information. Crime prevention is not the responsibility of law enforcement, or corrections, or the National Crime Prevention Council alone. It takes a community working together to keep itself safe.

This time of mourning must also be a time of learning.