Brief

Our study, the first U.S.-based randomized control trial designed to test the efficacy of an intervention to interrupt Near Repeat burglary patterns, was conducted in two U.S. jurisdictions: the Baltimore County (MD) and Redlands (CA) police departments during the period of September 10, 2014, through December 31, 2015. The purpose was to determine whether providing timely crime prevention information to neighbors of a residential burglary victim could interrupt the near repeat pattern. The study targeted the delivery of crime prevention to the micro-level space-time window of significant risk rather than to an entire neighborhood. Overall, the number of burglaries occurring after generation of the treatment and control areas was low in both sites. In Baltimore County, only 7 follow-on burglaries occurred in the 120 control areas and only 1 occurred in the 122 treatment areas in the 2 weeks after the originator burglary. In Redlands, only 3 follow-on burglaries occurred in the 65 control areas and only 1 follow-on burglary occurred in the 68 treatment areas within 2 weeks of the originator burglary. Nevertheless, results in both Baltimore County and Redlands suggest that the treatment did not significantly reduce burglary 4, 8, or 12 weeks after the intervention. However, in Baltimore County the difference between treatment and control areas was most pronounced in the 1 – 2-week band where the results approached statistical significance (p=.08). Results in Redlands were similar. Follow-on events in the buffer zones were significant in the 1– 8-week band and marginally significant in the 1- 4-week band.