On Good Authority

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Community mobilization
fuels Chicago Alternative
Policing Strategy (CAPS)
On Good Authority
Vol. 4, No. 8
June 2001
On Good Authority is a periodic
briefing on trends and issues in
criminal justice program evaluation.
This report was written by staff
Research Analyst Karen S. Levy
McCanna. It is a summary of an
evaluation of the Chicago Alternative
Policing Strategy. The evaluation was
conducted by Wesley Skogan, Ph.D., of
the Chicago Community Policing
Consortium, coordinated by the
Institute for Policy Research,
Northwestern University. Copies of
the evaluation are available from the
Authority’s Research and Analysis
Unit.
The Illinois Criminal Justice
Information Authority is a state
agency dedicated to improving the
administration of criminal justice in
Illinois. The basic functions of the
Authority are criminal justice research,
federal and state grants administration,
and information systems development
and support.
For more information, or for copies of
this or other publications, contact the
Authority at (312) 793-8550, or visit
our Web site at www.icjia.state.il.us.
The evaluation was supported by grant #97-
DB-MU-0017 awarded by the Bureau of
Justice Assistance, Office of Justice Programs,
U.S. Department of Justice. Points of view in
this document do not necessarily represent the
official position or policies of the U.S.
Department of Justice.
Printed by authority of the State of Illinois, June
2001. Printing order #01-246; 3,000 copies.
George H. Ryan
Governor
Peter B. Bensinger
Chairman
Candice M. Kane
Executive Director
ILLINOIS
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
INFORMATION AUTHORITY
Arecent research report shows
that the Chicago Alternative
Policing Strategy (CAPS) has
made great strides in program implemen-tation,
community mobilization, and
public confidence levels since its
inception. These findings were included
in the latest evaluation report on CAPS
covering the period of April 1999 to
August 2000. The evaluation was
conducted by Northwestern University
researchers.
Citizen involvement in
beat meetings
Beat meetings provide a forum to facilitate
information exchange between community
residents and police. Evaluators analyzed
three aspects of beat meeting quality: 1)
whether beat meeting participants reflect
the demographic composition of the beat;
2) whether the possible disproportionate
representation of homeowners, or other
residents with a greater stake in the
community, that emerges in the meetings
affects the accuracy of representation of
beat problems at the meetings; and 3)
whether beat meeting participant priorities
address the problems facing the beat,
including the quality of police service.
Data were collected from evaluator beat
meeting observations, questionnaires
completed by beat meeting participants,
and answers to a citywide survey.
Do beat meeting participants reflect
the demographic composition of the
beat?
Seventy percent of beat meeting partici-pants
citywide were homeowners, while
an average of 40 percent of all beat
residents owned their home. Within beats,
certain demographic groups of residents
were overrepresented at meetings. Almost
75 percent of participants had a college
education, compared to 30 percent of all
residents. In addition, while about 12
percent of all residents were over age 65,
25 percent of meeting participants were
over age 65.
The Chicago Community Policing
Evaluation Consortium concluded its
final evaluation of the Chicago
Alternative Policing Strategy in
August 2000. This On Good
Authority summarizes the evaluation
of the seventh year of the strategy.
The evaluation was funded by the
Illinois Criminal Justice Information
Authority, using federal Anti-Drug
Abuse Act funds, the National
Institute of Justice, and the John D.
and Catherine T. MacArthur
Foundation.