Our History

Although there is little direct evidence of historical attempts by neighborhoods to reduce crime, it can certainly be argued that such efforts are as old as the human race. Certainly, even the earliest humans attempted to control their likelihood of victimization. Even the historical roots of law enforcement - the night watch and the hue and cry - were much closer to Neighborhood Watch than to modern law enforcement agencies.

The roots of neighborhood crime prevention, including Neighborhood Watch, can at least be traced back to the Chicago School and its focus on the relationship between the social environment of neighborhood and crime. From the earliest studies on "communities and crime," (Shaw and McKay) to much more recent works (Walker, 1993), research has shown that there is a link between areas with high crime rates and neighborhoods characterized by a heterogeneity of economics and ethnicity, high levels of population turnover and transience, and other physical and economic conditions. Most of this line of research has concluded that crime is higher in "socially disorganized areas" marked by weakened informal control due to an erosion of shared norms. Since formal control organizations (specifically law enforcement) cannot be in all areas at one time, informal control of residents is necessary if that community is to experience low crime rates. When neighborhoods become disorganized, the people and institutions that once assisted in maintaining standards of behavior no longer hold such status, resulting in a breakdown in informal control. This, in turn, produces high crime rates.