CAPS: The Good, the Bad, the Results
Program’s success depends on where Chicagoans live

Summer 2003, Volume 25, Number 1

Since 1993, a research team directed by IPR political scientist Wesley Skogan has been evaluating the Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy program, or CAPS, the nation’s largest experiment in community policing. CAPS involves the creation of turf-oriented teams of police officers with long-term beat assignments, extensive community involvement and empowerment, and integration with improved city services. It encourages neighborhood problem-solving by both police and residents.

In its seventh report, detailing years eight and nine of the program, Skogan’s team found that overall crime rates have dropped, particularly in African-American communities, and overall satisfaction with how the police are doing their job is up among all demographic groups. Chicago’s murder rate has declined more slowly than in some other big cities, due largely to the fact that many of the murders being committed are closely linked to gang violence and street drug markets.

“While Mayor Daley is addressing the high homicide rate through the deployment of extra police units in high-crime areas, the real fix will likely come when more long-term solutions are in place, such as neighborhood development, better social services and an educational system that gives young people marketable skills,” said Susan Hartnett, IPR research associate. “The real causes of these problems are beyond the capacities of the police.”

Another dark cloud in this picture is the lack of involvement in CAPS by the city’s Latinos, and the limited improvements visible in Latino neighborhoods. As the report noted, “Especially for Spanish-speakers, levels of social disorder and physical decay appeared substantially higher in 2001 than in 1994. The success of this aspect of CAPS depended on who you were and where you lived.”

This summer the CAPS evaluation team will conduct an intensive study of two Chicago Latino neighborhoods to investigate the reasons behind this decline, and what might work to increase Latino involvement in community policing.

New to the report is its description of the Chicago Police Department’s (CPD) accountability process, Chicago’s version of New York’s well-known “CompStat” program. This initiative focuses resources on resolving chronic crime and disorder problems. Under the plan, each of the 25 police districts is held responsible for identifying local priorities, planning strategies to address them, and then executing their plans effectively. Coupled with new information systems, this “intelligence-driven policing” promises to deliver more effective responses to the city’s most pressing problems.

For more information on the report or CAPS, please visit www.northwestern.edu/ipr.