Effectiveness of Voluntary Campus Patrol: The moderating Effect of the Meaning of Volunteering

This study examined the effects of participation in citizen patrol activities on students' community awareness, fear of crime, awareness of community policing, and confidence in the police, as well as the moderating role of the perceived significance of volunteer activities in these relationships. The study was conducted with students from D University who participated in citizen patrol activities. The analysis model treated participation in citizen patrols as the independent variable, with community awareness (including dimensions such as belonging, interaction, and attachment), fear of crime (both general and specific), awareness of community policing, and confidence in the police as dependent variables. The significance of volunteer activities was considered a moderating variable. The findings indicate that involvement in citizen patrols significantly influences community awareness, awareness of community policing, and confidence in the police. Furthermore, the perceived significance of volunteer activities was shown to have a substantial moderating effect on the relationship between citizen patrol participation and both awareness of community policing and confidence in the police. These results suggest that enhancing the meaningfulness of citizen patrol experiences can amplify their positive impacts, even when these experiences initially appear formal or incomplete.