The Nation - News from March 9, 1986

More Americans are taking a little bit of the law into their own hands by getting involved with neighborhood watch groups or taking other steps to protect themselves from crime, a government study said. At least 38% of American families participate in neighborhood watch programs, the Justice Department’s Bureau of Statistics found. The report said engraving valuables and installing burglar alarms are other crime-prevention methods used by many Americans. About half of all households earning $50,000 or more a year said they used at least one crime-prevention method, contrasted with only one-fifth of households with incomes of less than $10,000, the study found.