“Take a bite out of crime” with National Crime Prevention Month

Deltek Analyst Evan Halperin reports.

Since 1984, the National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC) has designated October as National Crime Prevention Month. During this time, government agencies, schools and other organizations promote statistics relating to crime reduction and advocate safety awareness at the state and local level. The month-long campaign seeks to encourage volunteerism within the community and build a commitment to a better understanding of crime and crime prevention.

There are probably many people who remember the NCPC from its famous ad campaign featuring McGruff the Crime Dog. This cartoon bloodhound, created in 1980, brought life to the NCPC and was used to send safety messages to children. McGruff’s motto was “take a bite out of crime,” and has made its way into cartoons, commercials, songs, coloring books, and many marketing campaigns. It is important to take a look back at the development and nationalization of the NCPC to see where we are today. The use of a cartoon crime dog helped the NCPC develop a good rapport with youths and enabled the council to discuss important issues such as bullying, drugs, safety and staying in school.

INPUT’s justice/public safety and homeland security team perceives crime prevention a little bit differently – from the state and local government perspective. From that standpoint, there are several technologies agencies can utilize to prevent a number of crimes. Over the next three weeks, justice and public safety analysts will detail each of the major crime prevention technologies in depth. The technological areas that will be featured include surveillance cameras and closed-circuit television (CCTV), red light cameras, and predictive policing.

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