Community Partners: ‘Doing Doors’ as a Community Crime Prevention Strategy

Abstract

Research shows that strengthening social networks in neighborhoods is key to addressing the social disorder that breeds crime. However, citizen involvement in crime prevention partnerships presents a challenge in high crime areas. The use of intermediaries as an organized strategy to work with residents, law enforcement, and various community agencies and organizations has been introduced as a way to mitigate the problems of mobilizing urban dwellers and as a means to bridge the gap between the interests of the various constituents. The Community Partners Program is a community organizing and outreach initiative that uses intermediaries ‘doing doors’ as its primary approach. This paper will present the findings from interviews with 22 Community Partners working in targeted, high crime urban neighborhoods. The roles, perceptions, and experiences of these ‘Partners’ are described in detail. The findings suggest that using intermediaries may be a promising strategy for crime prevention partnerships.