Community‐oriented policing (COP): An empirical study of its effectiveness on fear of crime

BackgroundCommunity‐oriented policing (COP) has been a central tenet in policing for the past three decades. Accordingly, studies have examined its effectiveness in reducing citizen's fear of crime, one of the legitimate objectives of COP. However, the results of studies are somewhat unclear about the effectiveness.Objectiveshis study attempts to disclose how COP program affects citizens' fear of crime using two waves of survey data collected from citizen participants of the COP program in Houston, Texas.MethodsStructural equation modeling is employed for analysis in this study.ResultsThe findings of this study reveal that COP contributed to reducing fear of crime. In particular, the crime prevention‐related information learned at the COP program increased the participants' sense of collective efficacy, which shows a positive impact on reducing fear of crime.ConclusionsThis study suggest that providing crime prevention information at COP program is important to strengthen volunteer's informal social control, which contribute to reducing their fear of crime.