Neighborhood Engagement Units

Law enforcement agencies can create neighborhood engagement units to reach marginalized populations by collaborating with community residents, working with these residents to identify problems and creatively develop solutions, and engaging with residents to organize community and law enforcement events and address neighborhood-level issues. Increased neighborhood engagement, in turn, can reduce gun-involved crime such as gang violence and non-fatal shootings by improving community members’ willingness to provide tips about crime suspects or suspicious activity and to improve community issues that may have facilitated criminal activity. To be the most effective, and to reduce potential harms, this approach should be developed and tailored to the community where it will be implemented.