Understanding police crime prevention through the prism of social disorganization theory

Abstract

The intention of this article is to analyze the underlying assumptions and perspectives of social disorganization theory, in order to highlight the possibility of its practical application in guiding police preventive actions. Some aspects of preventive police proceedings are presented, as well as insights into perspectives and empirical testing of social disorganization theory. The author hypothesized that social disorganization theory has its pragmatic social value within the context of preventive police work. Applied methodology refers to the use of comparative and inductive deductive method, as well as content analysis. Findings indicate that an understanding of theory of social disorganization is relevant for police crime prevention, especially within community policing model. Specifically, as community policing implies identifying the causes of crime in the community, as well as the component of oriented policing, social disorganization theory thus allows insights into the causes of disorganization of communities and their contribution to crime and other socially undesirable behaviors. Additionally, the author concludes that there are certain limitations of social disorganization theory that certainly should be consulted when planning police prevention activities. This primarily concerns reliance on official statistics as one of the main critical remarks addressed to the theory of social disorganization, as well as the view that the crime is a phenomenon unique to a lower social class.