Policing community problems: Exploring the role of formal social control in shaping collective efficacy

Research finds police-led crime control interventions focusing on places and involving partnerships tend to yield positive crime control outcomes. Some scholars argue that these positive outcomes are achieved when police use place-based, partnership-oriented interventions to facilitate and encourage collective efficacy (CE), the corollary being that these CE-enhancing efforts lead to less crime. Nevertheless, differentiating the police activities that impact CE across different types of communities is not well understood. This paper examines the role of police in shaping CE in two contrasting communities. Using in-depth interviews with residents and key informants we find that police are most likely to enhance CE when they foster a sense of effectiveness, use inclusive and partnership-oriented strategies and when they implement strategies in a manner that encourages perceptions of police legitimacy. Moreover, if police can maintain or cultivate a sense of empowerment among community residents, they are more likely to foster CE. Yet the role of police in enhancing CE is different in different community types. We discuss the implications of these findings for policy and practice

Greenspace and place attachment: do greener suburbs lead to greater residential place attachment?

While contemporary urban theories suggest that individuals have transcended their geographical community, evidence suggests that urban residents still feel 'attached' to place. In the literature, several socio-demographic characteristics are associated with place attachment. Scholars suggest physical features, such as community 'greenspace', may also influence place attachment. Yet research does not consider the relationship between one's objective proximity to greenspace or the objective availability of community greenspace on residents' place attachment. This study employs multi-level models and draws on police incident data, census data, two spatial data sets and survey data from over 4000 residents living across 148 state suburbs in Australia to assess the relationship between greenspace proximity and greenspace availability on place attachment. Our findings indicate that greater proportions and more accessible greenspace may not improve residents' attachment to their local community

The resilience of neighborhood social processes: a case study of the 2011 Brisbane flood

Social disorganization theories position neighborhood social capital and collective efficacy as key social processes that should facilitate community resilience in the aftermath of disaster. Yet limited evidence demonstrates that these social processes are themselves resilient with some studies showing that disaster can fracture even once cohesive neighborhoods. In this paper we assess the stability of neighborhood level collective efficacy and social capital before and after a disaster. We use multilevel structural equation modeling and draw on census and longitudinal survey data collected from over 4000 residents living in 148 neighborhoods in Brisbane, Australia before and after a significant flood event. We examine what happens to social capital and collective efficacy in flooded and non-flooded neighborhoods and assess whether demographic shifts are associated with change and/or stability in these processes. We find strong evidence that these processes operate similarly across flooded and not flooded communities. Our findings also reveal significant stability for our measures of social capital across time, while collective efficacy increases post flood across all neighborhoods, but more so in flooded neighborhoods. Neighborhood demographics have limited effect on patterns of stability or change in these social processes. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings for our understanding of neighborhood resilience in the wake of disaster

Living near violence: how proximity to violence shapes perceptions of police effectiveness and confidence in police

Living in close proximity to violent crime is associated with a number of negative outcomes including increased fear of crime and perceived risk of victimization. Living near violence may also undermine confidence in police. In this study we estimate fixed effects regression models to examine the association between spatial proximity to recent violence and perceptions of police while accounting for individual and neighborhood factors. Results indicate that living in close proximity to violence is associated with greater confidence in police and this relationship is mediated through perceived police effectiveness. We suggest people living closer to recent violent events are more likely to see police actively responding to crime and the coupling of seeing both the violence and police response results in people feeling more confident in police than those living further away from violence