Community policing strategies need to take into account police and residents’ different perceptions of neighborhood crime.

Do police officers and residents have different perceptions of crime and cohesion in urban neighborhoods? In new research, Rachel E. Stein and Candace Griffith find resident observations of neighborhood measures are relatively consistent across three urban neighborhoods in a Midwestern city. Police perceptions of their relationship with residents and the close-knit structure of the community, however, are more positive in the primarily white neighborhood that has an active crime prevention program. The results suggest that what officers see on the “surface” of the neighborhood is driving overall perceptions, while underlying problems are secondary. Differences between resident and police perceptions can influence the success of crime prevention strategies employed in community policing.