POLICING URBAN MASS TRANSIT SYSTEMS--EVALUATION DESIGNS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FUTURE RESEARCH

This suggestion for an evaluation project reviews transit policing operations and the need to evaluate these activities, lists data elements required, suggests five research designs, and presents a hypothetical case study. Previous research has suggested that urban mass transit systems need to develop and evaluate projects directed toward controlling juvenile crime, to improve the coordination of electronic security equipment with other security measures, to decrease the vulnerability of automatic coin-change and ticket vending machines, and to improve fire detection and prevention. The first step in evaluating these policing measures is data collection. Different transit police units use different classification schemes for crimes, complicating comparisons between systems. Uniform crime reporting would standardize definitions and provide a meaningful data base. A handbook for measuring passenger perceptions of crime is also needed for evaluation research. Data not generally recorded included offender characteristics, victim characteristics, and environmental conditions, all of which would improve evaluation. The most commonly used research designs are one-group, pretest-posttest designs, nonequivalent control group design, time series, multiple-time series, and a series of statistical analyses techniques. An intensive case study of the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (Rapid Rail System) is recommended as a possible Phase II study under the national evaluation program of NILECJ. A 2-year study costing about $250,000 is designed. Tabular data and a bibliography are provided.

• Corporate Authors:

  Mitre Corporation

  1820 Dolley Madison Boulevard
  McLean, VA  United States  22102

  Department of Justice

  National Institute of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice
  Washington, DC  United States  20530
• Authors:
  • Molof, M
  • Siegel, L
• Publication Date: 1977

Media Info

• Pagination: 37 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Crimes; Data collection; Development; Fire causes; Fire prevention; Police; Prevention; Public transit; Research; Security; Standardization; Statistics; Surveillance; Ticket vending machines
• Identifier Terms: Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority
• Uncontrolled Terms: Research and development
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Public Transportation; Research; Security and Emergencies;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00454924
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: MTR 7559
• Contract Numbers: 76-NI-99-0111
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jul 31 1986 12:00AM