Law Enforcement, Fear of Crime and Violence in Thailand's Southernmost Provinces

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe study reported in this article investigated the effect of violent crime on civilians and security force officers in the three southernmost provinces of Thailand and considered citizens' fear of crime and how that can be reduced by adopting Model of operation aimed at preventing violence and increasing safety. Interviews were conducted with 27 civilians and 36 officers from the security forces and on the basis of content analysis of the interviews, two questionnaires were constructed and distributed to sample groups of 1,453 civilians and 691 security officers in order to collect quantitative data which was analyzed for significant differences using t-tests, and ANOVAs. Civilians' and security force officers' fear of violent crime were found to be at a moderate level with their highest levels of fear relating to traveling or performing their duties in places where violent crimes often occur. The results of this study can be used to develop Model of operation for the prevention of violent crime and the reduction of peoples' fear of it through four aspects: (a) knowledge, (b) environment, (c) technology, and (d) management, and measures to ensure the enforcement of laws and to enable security officers to efficiently perform their duties are proposed.