Crime Management Strategies and Residents’ Safety Survey in Developing Countries: The Case of Oshogbo, Nigeria

Abstract

This study examined crime management strategies and residents’ feeling of safety in developing countries using Oshogbo, Nigeria. The survey was conducted through interview of 202 systematically selected residents of the town and their responses were subjected to descriptive analysis and correlation. Four (4) crime prevention and management approaches identified in the study area were strategies to improve safety and security, increasing social development, community-government interaction and environmental development. Social development was considered as the most effective crime management strategy in Osogbo(27.5%.) while the least considered in term of effectiveness was safety and security measures (20.8%). Residents’ perception of safety measured through an index of 5 and tagged safety perception index(PSI) revealed that  the overall safety index for Osogbo  during the day (SPI_day ) was put at 4.43 while that of night time (SPI_night ) was 4.25. PSI at home was put at 4.57 during the day and 4.45 (SD= 0.20) in the night. The PSI for work place during the day and in the night were 4.41 and 4.23 while that of public places were 4.30 and 4.08 respectively. Safety and Security measures had a strong positive correlation with safety at home (r= 0.743) and safety in public places (r=0.709). The correlation between social development and feeling of safety at home was 0.833 while that of public places and work places were 0.821 and 0.789 respectively. The correlation coefficient (r) between crime prevention through environmental design(CPTED) and residents feeling of safety at home was 0.935 while that of public places was 0.878. The study concluded significant relationship existed between residents’ feeling of safety and crime management and prevention strategies observed and that residents of Osogbo have a good feeling of safety at home, work place and in public places.

Keywords: Crime, Victimization, Management, Prevention, Safety