Community policing centres and crime prevention: The need for local area surveys

Since 1997, the Institute for Canadian Urban Research Studies (ICURS) has provided support services for a local neighbourhood survey that captures various local areas concerns and positive views. This has been followed by several other community surveys in the City of Vancouver in the Commercial Drive neighbourhood, Collingwood-Renfrew, Mount Pleasant and Yaletown-Granville communities. With the goal of identifying victimization, perception of crime, perceived hot spots and locally initiated approaches to reducing difficulties, these surveys have sparked varying degrees of public debate, interest, and changes in each community evaluated. Surveys of perception of crime, by the local public, while not considered an accurate enumeration of crime occurrences, are a way to assess how the public „feels‟ about certain activities (either legitimate or illegitimate) within their community. The thesis explores the value of learning about public perception of crime through local community surveys, and the value of having Community Policing Offices conducting the community surveys. Such information has potential importance for local jurisdiction in developing policies that reflect local needs. The thesis provides summary information from all the surveys but focuses on the surveys in the Yaletown-Granville communities.