Volume 22, NO. 1. May 2020 Investigating the Effective Law Enforcement Factors on Petty Thefts in Mashhad and the Ways to Combat it

Theft is a phenomenon that threatens people's financial and life security. The aim of this study was to investigate the effective law enforcement factors on petty thefts in Mashhad and to provide new ways to combat it.

In terms of its objectives the present study is of an applied research type which has been conducted using survey-analytical method. A researcher-made questionnaire was used to collect the data. The statistical population of this study includes all experts and officials of the Department of Prevention, Detection and Combating petty thefts with a history of more than 5 years of employment in the Criminal Investigation Police and Sheriff's Office of the City of Mashhad. The sample size was calculated as 96. After plugging the data into the SPSS software, Cronbach's alpha coefficient for the reliability test in this study was obtained as 0.96.

According to the findings of the index of law enforcement factors affecting petty theft, the average of the above index is 4.48, which indicates that the law enforcement factors affecting petty theft are higher than average. According to the coefficient of determination and effect, it can be said that four factors of the lack of fixed passes with beta weight of 0.241, the presence of neighborhood guard with beta weight of 0.177, training of law enforcement agents with beta weight of 0.149, the use of new technologies with beta weights of 0.142 are the most effective law enforcement factors on petty theft, respectively, and have more decisive effect.

In the study area, the results show that paying attention to issues such as having fixed passes, constant presence of neighborhood guards, training of law enforcement agents and the use of new technologies can have a significant impact on reducing petty thefts.