Bulletin Reports
Reducing Crime
Local elected officials and police departments across the United States are discovering that communities can “build” their way out of persistent crime problems that often cannot be solved just through arrests. The new Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) publication, A Policymaker’s Guide to Building Our Way Out of Crime: The Transformative Power of Police-Community Developer Partnerships, examines case studies in Charlotte, North Carolina; Minneapolis, Minnesota; and Providence, Rhode Island, and chronicles the accomplishments of this strategic alliance in these cities. It addresses efforts to reduce crime and improve economic vitality through partnerships comprising elected and appointed officials at all levels of government, community development leaders, financial industry investment strategists, private foundation executives, and law enforcement managers. This document, based on a longer COPS guidebook, provides evidence that police-community developer partnerships can convert crime hot spots that ruin entire neighborhoods into safety-generating community assets. For further information, access the publication (NCJ 227421) at the National Criminal Justice Reference Service’s website, http://www.ncjrs.gov.