ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the motivations of the public and the police in the community responses to crime by reviewing the literature. It examines the public-police nexus, the respective motivations for the participation of the public and the police in responses to crime within the rational model of behavior and socioeconomics theory of behavior, along with different community responses to crime: crime stoppers, citizen patrols, neighborhood-block watch, and police-community involvement programs. The dominant neoclassical rational choice theory of behavior assumes that individuals are motivated by a quest for the maximization of their self-interested goals. Motivations for behavior beyond self-interest, such as moral or social responsibility, or altruism, are 'considered exceptional, and self-interested behavior is usually thought to be the rule'. Research documents the adoption of private-minded responses by a majority of individuals and the resultant growth of private-security businesses.
