Reducing Burglary Initiative: early findings on burglary reduction

The first round of the Reducing Burglary Initiative (RBI), launched in 1999, funded 63 Strategic Development Projects (SDPs). One of the key aims of the RBI was to find out what burglary reduction strategies work best where. The SDPs were encouraged to develop innovative burglary reduction strategies. As a result, a wide range of interventions was implemented in a variety of contexts. Some early findings on burglary reduction in the SDP areas are discussed here. The decline in burg lary in 55 of these areas has been compared with other ‘ reference’/comparison areas. Eight SDPs, where no feasible comparison areas could be identified, have been excluded from the analysis.