Thursday, December 18, 2003

Media Contacts:

UNCW, Dr. Darrell Irwin 910/962-7420 or

910/471-9151 (cell)

Wilmington – The third UNC Wilmington Crime Survey, released today, shows that Wilmingtonians are less afraid of crime and are increasingly satisfied with the Wilmington Police Department -- 89 percent reported satisfaction in 2003, up from 86 percent in both 2001 and 1999.

The survey, a project of criminologists in the UNCW Sociology and Criminal Justice Department, was conducted in mid-April, 2003, by students who interviewed 201 randomly selected Wilmington residents over weekday evenings and one Sunday afternoon. The sample has a response rate of 45 percent and a margin of error of plus or minus 7 percent.

In addition to the perceptions of the Wilmington Police Department, the study looked at fear of crime, public disorder, and crime victimization. In the area of fear of crime, few respondents indicated they were afraid of being attacked by someone who has a weapon, although one in five said they were very afraid that a loved one might be attacked by someone with a weapon. People also indicated less fear of walking alone in their neighborhoods at night and during the day.

Another measure of fear of crime comes from the question: “In the past year, would you say your fear of crime has gone up, gone down or remained about the same?” Over three-quarters (77 percent) of Wilmington residents surveyed in 2003 said their fear of crime had either “gone down” or had “remained about the same” in the past year. By comparison, 74 percent of the respondents in 2001, and only 56 percent in 1999, indicated that their fear of crime had either gone down or remained about the same in the past year. The report refers to a stabilization of fear of crime, perhaps linked to nationwide declines in crime.

In the area of perceptions of public disorder in the neighborhood, the top problem reported was speeding or reckless driving (44 percent in 2003, down from 56 percent in 1999 and 55 percent in 2001); suspicious strangers in the neighborhood (23 percent in 2003, down from 34 percent in 1999 and 29 percent in 2001); and trash and litter lying around (21 percent in 2003, down from 35 percent in 1999 and 36 percent in 2001). Such perceptions of public disorder are related to fear of crime because they signal an erosion of traditional norms and values, and provide social cues about the neighborhood.

While official crime rates for the city of Wilmington are consistently higher than the national average, the UNCW Wilmington Crime Survey measures crime in Wilmington quite differently from the FBI data. Rather than relying on official police reports, the survey directly asks residents about their personal victimization experiences.

Survey results show that 17 percent of the residents polled in 2003 said that they or someone in their household had been victimized by crime in the past year. Although the figure of 17 percent (or nearly one in six Wilmington residents) appears to be a fairly high rate of victimization, this rate is roughly equivalent to the rate of household victimization found nationwide in the government-sponsored National Crime Victimization Survey.

An additional question asked respondents if any of their neighbors had been the victim of crime. Over one quarter (26 percent) of the residents polled said their neighbors had been victimized by crime in the past year, which suggests that crime touches the lives of many Wilmington residents.

A recent study, published by Morgan Quitno Press, indicated that Wilmington was the eighth most dangerous city among similarly sized cities. The Morgan Quitno report relied solely on official crime data reported for Wilmington. According to Dr. Darrell Irwin, associate professor of criminal justice and co-investigator on the study, The UNCW findings provide a more balanced view of the nature of the crime problem in Wilmington and the citizens’ reaction to the crime problem."

Authors of the 2003 crime survey were Dr. Randy LaGrange, professor of sociology and criminal justice; Dr. Darrell Irwin, associate professor of sociology and criminal justice; Dr. Michael Maume, assistant professor of sociology and criminal justice; and Dr. Stephen Meinhold, associate professor of political science. Please address all inquiries to Dr. Darrell Irwin, Phone: (910) 962-7420. E-mail: irwind@uncw.edu.

For commentary from the Wilmington Police Department, please contact Linda Rawley, (910) 343-3602 or Linda.rawley@ci.wilmington.nc.us.

"