WISE INTERVENTIONS

City streets in three mid-sized cities in southern California were randomized to normal policing or “broken windows” policing over 7 months. The latter included (1) a 1-day training encouraged police officers (a) to address incidents of disorder (e.g., public drinking, loitering), encouraging warnings for first offenders, and (b) to report physical problems (e.g., graffiti or litter) for clean up and to follow through if the problem was not dealt with in a timely manner and (2) three extra hours of police presence per week focused on addressing social and physical disorder. A telephone survey of residents and business owners/managers residing in these neighborhoods before and after the intervention showed no significant effect of condition on change in participants’ fear of crime, police legitimacy, perceived crime, or perceived disorder.