WHEREAS, the September 2015 edition of the Police Chief magazine1 was dedicated to recognizing “Great Ideas” in the policing profession. One of the ideas recognized was collective efficacy or applying comprehensive community engagement strategies and systems (ACCESS); and

WHEREAS, the theory of collective efficacy was first described by Professor Robert J. Sampson, former chair of the Department of Sociology at Harvard University in 1997. He coined the phrase “collective efficacy” as a result of his research in Chicago in the 1990s; and

WHEREAS, this criminological theory is rooted in established theories of crime emanating from the Chicago School of Sociology from the 1920s and 1930s that focus on socioeconomic factors, residential stability, neighborhood differences, and racial and ethnic diversity; and

WHEREAS, collective efficacy is defined as building relationships with residents and communities to the point that they are willing to intervene in certain situations (e.g., by calling the police, watching out for their neighbors and each other). Collective efficacy also means that residents have strong ties with their neighbors socially and economically and are invested in their neighborhoods; and

WHEREAS, ACCESS is critical to community policing because it plays a pivotal role in building trust and acknowledges that citizens assist police in preventing crime; and

WHEREAS, ACCESS builds emotional and social connections within neighborhoods and creates a sense of belonging and high social cohesion. Neighborhoods with cultural and regional differences should be acknowledged because their connectivity to each other may differ from other neighborhoods; and

WHEREAS, principles of ACCESS are associated with lower crime rates.2 Research shows that neighborhoods with high collective efficacy and community engagement have lower rates of violent crime and people with elevated levels of social cohesion experience less fear of crime; and

WHEREAS, police increase ACCESS by building relationships with community members through one-on- one conversations; spending time with children and families to gain their trust; and interacting with neighbors in parks, recreation centers, and at other events; and

WHEREAS, police can bring residents together to encourage interaction and networking that lead to trust building within neighborhoods. Now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, that the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP), will hereby support the overall concept of ACCESS and with appropriate review, may support training workshops at annual conferences and other meetings; encourage the use of research-based implementation strategies by its members; and be it

FURTHER RESOLVED, that the IACP recommends that its members foster understanding and promote dialogue of ACCESS within the policing profession to strengthen community-police trust.

Submitted by: Crime Prevention Committee

Co-Sponsored by: Community Policing Committee

CPC.02.19

1 Craig Uchida and Beau Thurnauer,“The Crucial Role of Collective Efficacy in Data-Driven Crime Prevention Policies,” Police Chief 82, no. 9 (September 2015): 24.

2 Robert J. Sampson, Stephen W. Raudenbush, and Felton Earls, “Neighborhoods and Violent Crime: A Multilevel Study of Collective Efficacy,” Science 277, no. 5328 (August 1997): 918–924.