Abstract

SANI, Ana Isabel  and  NUNES, Laura M.. Questionário de diagnóstico local de segurança: Estudo numa comunidade urbana. Aná. Psicológica [online]. 2013, vol.31, n.2, pp.185-195. ISSN 0870-8231.

This paper presents a questionnaire designed in collaboration with Porto’s Metropolitan Command which intervenes in a problematic urban community, located at the Sé parish. Underlying the construction of the questionnaire, aimed at the collection of data for the Local Safety Diagnostic (DLS) in accordance with the Portuguese ministerial guidelines, it was the need to characterize the feeling of (in) security among the residents in the area in its objective and subjective components. The final version of the questionnaire integrates five sections, and was administered to a sample of 244 individuals of both sexes, with ages ranging from 16 to 82 years, that at the time of the survey were living, working or studying in that area. This transversal and descriptive study revealed the predominance of a perception of safety, despite the notion of increased criminality. Drug traffic was the most common crime, and burglary / theft, robbery and drug trafficking were the most feared crimes. Unemployment and economic problems were perceived as the causes of crime escalation. Urban rehabilitation and increased policing were the respondents’ suggestions to increase security. These and other findings underlie the importance of local security diagnostics in the development of appropriate preventive and community safety strategies.

Keywords : Criminality; Local safety diagnostics; Survey.

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