Do-it-yourself surveillance: the practices and effects of WhatsApp neighbourhood crime prevention groups

WhatsApp Neighbourhood Crime Prevention (WNCP) groups are popular in the Netherlands. As a basic assumption, this kind of digital neighbourhood watch could prevent crime, but what is the evidence? Drawing on a mixture of qualitative research and a review of additional publications, we conclude that...

Full description

Saved in:  
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: van Steden, Ronald (Author)
Contributors: Mehlbaum, Shanna
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2022
In: Crime, media, culture
Year: 2022, Volume: 18, Issue: 4, Pages: 543-560
Online Access: Presumably Free Access
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Journals Online & Print:
Drawer...
Check availability: HBZ Gateway
Keywords:
Whatsapp
EMMIE
Community safety
digital neighbourhood watch
evidence-based research
Description
Summary:WhatsApp Neighbourhood Crime Prevention (WNCP) groups are popular in the Netherlands. As a basic assumption, this kind of digital neighbourhood watch could prevent crime, but what is the evidence? Drawing on a mixture of qualitative research and a review of additional publications, we conclude that WNCP groups stimulate social cohesion rather than prevent crime. We reach our conclusion by applying the evaluation EMMIE framework ? an acronym for Effect, Mechanisms, Moderators, Implementation and Economics ? to the available data. A point for further discussion is the limited scope of the economic dimension. Moral costs must be calculated, too, as WNCP groups tend to deepen divisions between groups of citizens and fuel exclusionary practices in the name of community safety.
ISSN:1741-6604
DOI:10.1177/17416590211041017