Crime Prevention Merit Badge
CRIME PREVENTION
- Discuss the role and value of laws in society with regard to crime and crime prevention. Include in your discussion the definitions of “crime” and “crime prevention.”
- Prepare a notebook of newspaper and other clippings that address crime and crime prevention efforts in your community.
- Discuss the following with your counselor:
- The role of citizens, including youth, in crime prevention.
- Gangs and their impact on the community.
- When and how to report a crime.
- After doing EACH of the following, discuss with your counselor what you have learned.
- Inspect your neighborhood for opportunities that may lead to crime. Learn how to do a crime prevention survey.
- Using the checklist in this pamphlet, conduct a security survey of your home and discuss the results with your family.
- Teach your family or patrol members how to protect themselves from crime at home, at school, in your community, and while traveling.
- Help raise awareness about one school safety issue facing students by doing ONE of the following:
- Create a poster for display on a school bulletin board.
- With permission from school officials, create a pagelong public service announcement that could be read over the public address system at school or posted on the school's website.
- Make a presentation to a group such as a Cub Scout den that addresses the issue.
- Do ONE of the following:
- Assist in the planning and organization of a crime prevention program in your community such as Neighborhood Watch, Community Watch, or Crime Stoppers. Explain how this program can benefit your neighborhood.
- With your parent's and counselor's approval, visit a jail or detention facility or a criminal court hearing. Discuss your experience with your counselor.
- Discuss the following with your counselor:
- How drug abuse awareness programs such as “Drugs: A Deadly Game” help prevent crime.
- Why alcohol, tobacco, and marijuana are sometimes called “gateway drugs” and how gateway drugs can lead to the use of other drugs.
- Three resources in your city where a person with a drug problem or drugrelated problem can go for help.
- How the illegal sale and use of drugs lead to other crimes.
- How to recognize child abuse.
- The three R's of Youth Protection.
- Discuss the following with your counselor:
- The role of a sheriff's or police department in crime prevention.
- The purpose and operation of agencies in your community that help law enforcement personnel prevent crime, and how those agencies function during emergency situations.
- Explain the role private security plays in crime prevention.
- Choose a career in the crime prevention or security industry that interests you. Describe the level of education required and responsibilities of a person in that position. Tell why this position interests you.