Strategic approaches to property crime control

Abstract

Despite the growth of interest in situational crime prevention, most approaches to property crime control, particularly in Australia, still place a heavy emphasis on the need for tougher sanctions and additional police. This article maintains that such approaches are neither effective nor efficient. It advocates a greater commitment by police to the strategic analysis of property crime, and the mobilisation of public/private partnerships to address those specific dimensions of the problem which are amenable to policy intervention. Police are encouraged to adopt a systematic approach to the task at hand. This will entail (1) identification of those specific components of the problem which are amenable to intervention, and (2) the development of partnerships with other governmental, non‐governmental and private institutions to address each specified components.