Community Safety Awareness and Crime Prevention Practices: A Correlational Study in Kidapawan City

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between community safety awareness and crime prevention practices among 397 adult residents of Kidapawan City selected through proportionate stratified random sampling across 40 barangays. It employed a quantitative descriptive-correlational, cross-sectional design. Awareness was assessed across Individual and Family, Community, and School and Work domains, while prevention practices covered Technology, Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED), Physical Monitoring, and Counter Crime Against Property. Data were analysed using means, standard deviations, Spearman’s rank-order correlation, and median quantile regression. Overall awareness was high (M = 4.29, SD = 0.511), with Individual and Family obtaining the highest mean (M = 4.50), followed by School and Work (M = 4.25) and Community (M = 4.10). Prevention practices were also generally high: CPTED (M = 4.00), Counter Crime Against Property (M = 3.93), Physical Monitoring (M = 3.81), and Technology (M = 3.63). Overall awareness was positively associated with Technology (ρ = .436), CPTED (ρ = .560), Physical Monitoring (ρ = .428), and Counter Crime Against Property (ρ = .324), all p < .001. Median quantile regression showed that Community Awareness was positively associated with all prevention domains (b = .489–.776). Thus, residents with stronger safety awareness tended to report greater engagement in crime prevention. However, the cross-sectional correlational design does not establish causation.