On Good Authority

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On Good Authority
Vol. 3, No. 9
June 2000
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 and Wesley G. Skogan, Ph.D.,
of Northwestern University. It is the
third in a series of four summaries
highlighting the most recent program
evaluation of the Chicago Alternative
Policing Strategy. The evaluation was
conducted by the Chicago Commu-nity
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
2000. Printing order #00-056; 3,000 copies.
George H. Ryan
Governor
Peter B. Bensinger
Chairman
Candice M. Kane
Executive Director
ILLINOIS
CRIMINAL JUSTICE
INFORMATION AUTHORITY
Neighborhood order
and community policing
in Chicago
Defined as mutual trust and a
willingness to maintain public
order, collective efficacy is a
key component of the Chicago Alterna-tive
Policing Strategy (CAPS). This On
Good Authority examines collective
efficacy in Chicago neighborhoods and
the city’s efforts to create collective
efficacy in targeted communities.
The Chicago Community Policing
Evaluation Consortium continued an
evaluation of the CAPS program last year
and published its latest report, “Commu-nity
Policing in Chicago, Years Five and
Six: An Interim Report,” in May 1999.
The evaluation was funded by the Illinois
Criminal Justice Information Authority
using federal Anti-Drug Abuse Act funds.
The National Institute of Justice, U.S.
Department of Justice, and the John D.
and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
provided additional funding.
Research has shown that communi-ties
with high levels of collective
efficacy are safer and more secure.
Collective efficacy is lowest in
neighborhoods of concentrated poverty
and in racially or ethnically heteroge-neous
areas.
The community mobilization project
is a Chicago initiative to create collec-tive
efficacy in targeted areas. Reflecting
the city’s commitment to CAPS, the
project attempts to build a strong
organizational infrastructure that will
support community policing. Community
organizers are hired to work with
community members, agencies, and
governmental entities to promote
resident involvement in problem-solving
activities on behalf of the community.
The project aims to:
• Bring block-level organization to
areas where there is none.
• Involve existing organizations in the
problem-solving process.
• Identify and secure the resources
required to solve pressing problems.
• Train community members to solve
problems in their neighborhoods in
accordance with local beat officers and
city service agencies.
Organizational structure
CAPS organizers are hired by the city or
by nonprofit community agencies that
have a contract with the city. Funding for
the project comes from the city’s
corporate budget and from the Local
Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), a
national, nonprofit, community develop-ment
support organization. Community
organizers hired by nonprofit agencies
work independently of the CAPS
Implementation Office. The CAPS
manager meets monthly with the
contracting agencies to discuss activi-ties,
conflicts, bureaucratic issues, and
future events.
The hierarchy of organizers hired by
the city begins with the CAPS project
manager who provides overall project
direction and guiding philosophy. The
field coordinator manages a team of five
area coordinators who supervise small