Public Confidence in Crime Prevention Management in the Historic City of Ayutthaya

Abstract

The objectives of this research were: 1) to study the problems of crime prevention management in the Historic City of Ayutthaya – UNESCO World Heritage Site and 2) to examine the relationship among personal factors, fear of crimes, and confidence in crime prevention of residents in the areas of Ayutthaya World Heritage. The sample comprised 20 community leaders and 391 representatives of local residents. The research instrument was a questionnaire. The statistical tools used for data analysis were mean, standard deviation, and beta derived from multiple regression analysis.

The results revealed that the overall problems were found at a moderate level. The most influential factor in public confidence was fear of crimes, followed by personal factors, i.e. occupations, salaries, length of stay in the community, experience in receiving crime news, and experience in attending crime prevention activities. Furthermore, there were three aspects of suggestions: environmental management, government participation, and law enforcement. As for environmental management, garbage should be removed to prevent the areas from being degraded; many places should be organized so that any violent incident would be visibly noticed; lights should be adequately provided; CCTV cameras should be installed in buildings, corridors, risk points, and blind spots. With respect to government participation, local residents should be invited to participate in activities regarding crime prevention in the World Heritage areas. Concerning law enforcement, all government agencies should have more coordination to enhance the swiftness of criminal arrests.