Charlotte Gill, David Weisburd, Zoe Vitter, Claudia Gross Shader, Tari Nelson-Zagar and Linda Spain
The purpose of this paper is to describe a case study of a pilot program in which a collaborative problem-solving approach was implemented at hot spots of juvenile and youth crime…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to describe a case study of a pilot program in which a collaborative problem-solving approach was implemented at hot spots of juvenile and youth crime in downtown Seattle, Washington.
Design/methodology/approach
Two matched pairs of youth crime hot spots were allocated at random to treatment (“non-enforcement problem-solving”) or comparison (“policing-as-usual”) conditions within matched pairs. In the treatment condition, police collaborated with community and local government partners to develop problem-solving strategies that deemphasized arrests and other traditional law enforcement approaches. Impacts on crime incidents, calls for service, and police activity were assessed using difference-in-differences Poisson regression with robust standard errors.
Findings
No significant impact on crime or calls for service was observed at one site, where several problem-solving approaches were successfully implemented. However, crime and calls for service were significantly lower at the other site, where some enforcement activity took place but non-enforcement problem-solving was limited.
Research limitations/implications
The authors find mixed support for non-enforcement problem-solving at hot spots. The enforcement may be necessary for stabilization, and must be balanced with the risks of justice system involvement for youth. Political support at the city level is necessary for collaboration. Limitations include the small number of sites in this pilot study and key differences between treatment and comparison locations.
Originality/value
This study is one of the first to assess the impact of primarily non-enforcement problem-solving specifically at youth crime hot spots.
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David Weisburd, Orit Shalev and Menachem Amir
The Israeli National Police began to implement community policing on a large scale in January of 1995. In this paper we describe the main findings of a three year national…
Abstract
The Israeli National Police began to implement community policing on a large scale in January of 1995. In this paper we describe the main findings of a three year national evaluation of community policing in Israel that was initiated by the Chief Scientist’s office of the Israeli police in the Fall of 1996. When community policing was envisioned and planned in Israel it was seen as part of a total reformation of the Israeli police in structure, philosophy and action. Our research suggests that this broad idea of community policing was not implemented in Israel, and indeed the program of community policing was found to lose ground during the course of our study. While community policing did have specific impacts on the Israeli police, it did not fundamentally change the perspectives and activities of street level police officers. We explain the difficulties encountered in the implementation of community policing in reference to three factors: the speed of implementation of the program; the resistance of traditional military style organizational culture within the Israeli police to the demands of community policing models; and a lack of organizational commitment to community policing. In our conclusions we argue that these barriers to successful community policing are not unique to the Israel case, and are indeed likely to be encountered in the development of community policing in many other countries.
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Lorraine Mazerolle, Sacha Rombouts and James McBroom
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the impact of Queensland Police Service's version of COMPSTAT, known as “Operational Performance Reviews” (OPRs), on reported crime.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the impact of Queensland Police Service's version of COMPSTAT, known as “Operational Performance Reviews” (OPRs), on reported crime.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper employed interrupted time series analytic techniques to examine the impact of OPRs on various categories of reported crime in Queensland. The analyses assessed the extent to which OPRs were associated with crime reductions across the 29 police districts in Queensland.
Findings
The introduction of OPRs was found to be associated with a significant decrease in the total number of reported offences in Queensland. OPRs were found to have their strongest effect on reported unlawful entries into dwellings and unlawful entries into other properties. The overall finding was that OPRs appeared to be a cost‐effective approach to controlling crime, resulting in an overall saving of AUD$1,162,175.
Practical implications
The current study suggests that COMPSTAT generally – and Queensland's OPRs in particular – can be an effective police management mechanism, which results in observable reductions in reported crimes. Moreover, OPRs appear to be most effective at reducing property‐related crime. Modifications of this performance management process may help to generalize its effects to other types of crime.
Originality/value
This study was the first to provide a systematic examination of the impact of OPRs on a relatively large number of offence categories.
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Richard A. Wright and J. Mitchell Miller
Although numerous studies recently have appeared that identify the most‐cited scholars and works in the general criminology and criminal justice literature and in several…
Abstract
Although numerous studies recently have appeared that identify the most‐cited scholars and works in the general criminology and criminal justice literature and in several specialty areas, no previous citation study has specifically examined the police studies literature. Through an analysis of 370 articles and research notes appearing from 1991 to 1995 in the areas of police studies, published in Criminology, Justice Quarterly, and four academic periodicals devoted to police studies, we list the 50 most‐cited scholars and the 36 most‐cited works. The lists of the most‐cited scholars and works in the specialty area of police studies are compared to general lists taken from leading criminology and criminal justice journals and introductory textbooks. We conclude with some thoughts about the relevance of citation analysis to specialists in police studies.
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Purpose – This chapter uses preventive and responsive policing strategies in tandem to develop a multi-level theory that explains the relationship between the police and…
Abstract
Purpose – This chapter uses preventive and responsive policing strategies in tandem to develop a multi-level theory that explains the relationship between the police and violence.
Design/methodology/approach – The chapter brings together classical scholarship and more recent sociological research to demonstrate that an effective response to violence is critical in upholding the state’s monopoly on violence and that police officers can reduce violence by preventing it and responding to it.
Findings – Theoretical and practical evidence support the balanced use of responsive and preventive policing strategies to reduce violence. Findings from the literature are used to argue that (1) when law enforcement officers do not effectively respond to violence and/or crime prevention strategies are nonexistent in a community, neighborhood crime is increased and (2) when citizens do not perceive law enforcement officers as legitimate and effective agents of authority, they become more likely to engage in violent offending (Tonry, 1995; Tyler, 2006).
Originality/value – Research has supported the effectiveness of “proactive” (Braga, Papachristos, & Hureau, 2014; Weisburd & Telep, 2014) and “reactive” (Nagin, 2013; Paternoster, 2010) policing strategies in reducing violence, but no research has combined strategies of prevention and response to explain the relationship between the police and violence. The theory proposed in this chapter demonstrates the utility of explaining the instrumental and legitimacy functions of the police across various levels and brings under-protection to the forefront of research on policing and violence.