Reducing Disorder, Fear, and Crime in Public Housing: Evaluation of a Drug-Crime Elimination Program in Spokane, Washington, 1992-1995

Established in 1994, Project ROAR (Reclaiming Our Area
Residences) is a public housing drug-crime elimination program
sponsored by the Spokane Police Department and the Spokane Housing
Authority. This study was undertaken to examine and evaluate the
effects and outcomes of Project ROAR as it was implemented in the
Parsons' Public Housing Complex, located in downtown Spokane,
Washington. In addition, the study sought to determine to what extent
the project as implemented reflected Project ROAR as originally
conceived, and whether Project ROAR could be considered a
comprehensive community policing crime prevention program. Further,
the study attempted to determine what effects this collaborative
anti-crime program might have on: (1) residents' perceptions of the
quality of their neighborhood life, including perceptions of
neighborhood inhabitants, satisfaction with their neighborhood, fear
of crime, and neighborhood physical and social disorder, (2) objective
measures of physical and social disorder, (3) levels of neighborhood
crime, and (4) subjective perceptions of the level and quality of
policing services. To assess the implementation and short-term impacts
of Project ROAR, data were collected from various sources. First, four
waves of face-to-face interviews were conducted with Parsons' Public
Housing residents at approximately six-month intervals: April 1994,
December 1994, May 1995, and November 1995 (Part 1, Public Housing
Residents Survey Data). Information collected from interviews with the
Parsons' residents focused on their involvement with Project ROAR,
community block watches, and tenant councils. Residents commented on
whether there had been any changes in the level of police presence,
drug-related crimes, prostitution, or any other physical or social
changes in their neighborhood since the inception of Project
ROAR. Residents were asked to rate their satisfaction with the housing
complex, the neighborhood, the Spokane Police Department, the number
of police present in the neighborhood, and the level of police
service. Residents were also asked if they had been the victim of any
crimes and to rate their level of fear of crime in the complex during
the day and night, pre- and post-Project ROAR. The gender and age of
each survey participant was also recorded. The second source of data
was a city-wide survey mailed to the residents of Spokane (Part 2,
Spokane Citizens Survey Data). Information collected from the survey
includes demographics on ethnicity, gender, age, highest level of
education, present occupation, and family income. The city residents
were also asked to assess the level of police service, the number of
police present in their neighborhood, the helpfulness of neighbors,
whether they felt safe alone in their neighborhood, and overall
satisfaction with their neighborhood. Third, a block-level physical
and social disorder inventory was taken in April 1994, October 1994,
April 1994, and October 1995 (Part 3, Neighborhood Inventory
Data). The sex, age, and behavior of the first ten people observed
during the inventory period were recorded, as well as the number of
people observed loitering. Other observations made included the number
of panhandlers, prostitutes, open drug sales, and displays of public
drunkenness. The number of residential and commercial properties,
restaurants, bars, office buildings, empty lots, unboarded and boarded
abandoned buildings, potholes, barriers (walls or fences), abandoned
cars, and for-sale signs, along with the amount of graffiti on public
and private properties and the amount of litter and broken glass
observed in each neighborhood, completed the inventory data. Finally,
crime reports were collected from the Spokane Police Department's
Crime Analysis Unit (Part 4, Disaggregated Crime Data, and Part 5,
Aggregated Crime Data). These data contain monthly counts of robberies
and burglaries for the public housing neighborhood, a constructed
controlled comparison neighborhood, and the city of Spokane for the
period January 1, 1992, through December 31, 1995.