Policing for Crime Prevention

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Policing for Crime Prevention
CRM 407Crime Prevention
Week Twelve
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Policing for Crime Prevention

• Today
• Eight hypotheses about policing and crime
• Community policing
• Problem-oriented policing
• Case studies
• Problem-solving exercise

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Eight Hypotheses about the Relationship Between
Policing and Crime

• Other things being equal
• 1. Numbers of Police - The more police a city
  employs, the less crime it will have.
• 2. Rapid Response to 911 - The shorter the police
  travel time to a crime scene, the less crime
  there will be.
• 3. Random Patrols - The more random patrol a city
  receives, the more a perceived "omnipresence" of
  the police will deter crime in public places.
• 4. Directed Patrols - The more a patrol presence
  is concentrated at "hot spots" and "hot times" of
  criminal activity, the less crime there will be
  in those places times.

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Eight Hypotheses about the Relationship Between
Policing and Crime

• 5. Reactive Arrests - The more arrests police
  make in response to reported or observed
  offences, the less crime there will be.
• 6. Proactive Arrests - The higher the
  police-initiated arrest rate for high-risk
  offenders and offences, the lower the rates of
  serious violent crime.
• 7. Community Policing - The more quantity and
  better quality of contacts between police and
  citizens, the less crime.
• 8. Problem-Oriented Policing - The more police
  can identify and minimize proximate causes of
  crime, the less crime there will be.

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Post WW II Crisis in Policing

• Police departments were revolutionized by
• Two-way communications
• Police patrol vehicle
• And later, the 911 system
• Result
• Police increasingly became reactive,
  incident-driven
• Primary job respond to calls for service
• Beat cops replaced by roaming patrol cars
• Increased separation from the community
  (community-policing replaced by
  incident-driven policing)

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Community Policing vs.Problem-Oriented Policing

• Community Policing
• Community policing arose in the late 1960s in the
  US due estrangement of policing from communities
• Thus, community policings major emphasis is on
  process encouraging greater communications and
  partnerships between police and communities

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Community Policing vs.Problem-Oriented Policing

• Problem-oriented policing
• Arose in the late 1970s from the crisis of police
  effectiveness in controlling crime (traditional
  strategies do not seem to work)
• In particular, police had become
• overwhelming reactive
• only addressing symptoms
• Thus, emphasis of problem-oriented policing is on
  outcome making policing more effective at
  preventing crime by addressing root causes

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Critiques of Policing

• Both community and problem-oriented policing
  arose from the same critiques of traditional
  policing
• Police are not effective in controlling the
  spiralling crime rate
• They are largely reactive little emphasis on
  proactive approaches to prevent crime
• They respond to the same problems and the same
  offenders, relying on rigid, inflexible, and
  unimaginative solutions

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Critiques of Policing (cont.)

• Policing has become synonymous with law
  enforcement, ignoring the broader goals of
  peacekeeping and community safety and security
• Police have become increasingly estranged from
  (and unrepresentative of) the public, which is
  especially true of marginalized populations
• Police practice racial profiling

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Community / Problem-Oriented Policing

• Rooted in two original philosophies of the London
  Metropolitan Police Force
• Police must constantly strive to prevent crime
• Police are public, public are police

Sir Robert Peel Founder of the London Police
(1831)
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Community Policing

• Three ways to look at community policing
• 1) Community policing is not a program, but a
  philosophy not a strategy, but an approach to
  the entire business of policing and public
  safety.
• 2) Community policing is a program that can be
  selectively implemented though designated
  personnel and units.
• 3) Community policing is both a philosophy (a way
  of thinking) and an organizational strategy (a
  way to carry out the philosophy).

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Community Policing

• Three dominant characteristics
• Effective partnerships with the community as well
  as with other public and private sector resources
  (community-based)
• Application of problem-solving strategies
  tactics
• Need for comprehensive transformation of police
  organizational culture and structure to support
  this philosophical shift.

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Community Policing

• Partnerships with the community
• Commitment to community empowerment
• Enhance informal social control
• Community input/participation in problem-solving
• More and better communications
• Increased police accountability to the community
• Police as part of the community
• Police as peace officers, not simply law
  enforcement
• Multi-agency cooperation
• Community-based!

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Community Policing/Problem-Oriented Policing

• Problem-Oriented
• Proactive/Preventative
• Address underlying (root) causes
• More emphasis on critical thinking and analysis
• More emphasis on information-gathering
• Involvement of community in defining problems and
  developing solutions
• Most appropriate solution to the problem
• Highly individualized solutions
• Use of alternatives to CJS (creativity!)

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Community Policing

• Transformed Organizational Structure
• Objective greater responsibility autonomy for
  front-line constables to apply crime prevention
  strategies
• Hierarchical, para-military, organization is
  changed to a flatter profile
• Geographical decentralization of many functions,
  including management and resource deployment
• Shift in power decentralized and personalized
  policing
• Multi-agency cooperation
• Information Flow and management
• Police officers are reflective of the community

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Community/Problem-Oriented Policing and Crime
Prevention

• Crime prevention and community/problem-oriented
  policing share numerous characteristics
• Both deal with the health of the community
• Both seek to address underlying causes and
  problems
• Both deal with the combination of physical and
  social issues that are at the heart of many
  community problems
• Both require active involvement by community
  residents
• Both require partnerships beyond law enforcement
  to be effective
• Both represent a philosophy, rather than a
  program

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Broken Windows Theory

• Minor incivilities, if unchecked and
  uncontrolled, will promote more serious crimes
• Incivilities act as the catalyst they
  represent signs of disorder and signify that 'no
  one cares', that the environment is uncontrolled
  and uncontrollable
• Solution stop and reverse the cycle of decline
  in its earliest stages by a focus on order
  maintenance and aggressive policing of
  incivilities and other signs of crime.

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Case Study Intensive Disorder Enforcement,
Newark, NJ
Police followed the broken windows theory and
undertook a zero tolerance approach to reduce
disorder and crime in various Newark hot spots
(1) Street sweeps - to reduce loitering
disruptive behaviour, drug sales, etc. (2)
Police foot patrols - to disperse unruly groups
of youths, enforce law (3) Radar checks - to
enforce traffic regulations. (4) Bus checks - to
maintain order on public buses (5) Road blocks -
to deal with a number of motoring offences. (6)
Intensifying city services - increasing the speed
of building repairs, structural improvements,
improving garbage collection, clean-up
campaign, juveniles convicted of petty offences
sentenced to the above through community hours
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Conclusion Police in the 21st Century

• Community policing focuses on crime and social
  disorder through the delivery of police services
  that includes aspects of traditional law
  enforcement, as well as prevention,
  problem-solving, community engagement, and
  partnerships. The community policing model
  balances reactive responses to calls for service
  with proactive problem-solving centered on the
  causes of crime and disorder. Community policing
  requires police and citizens to join together as
  partners in the course of both identifying and
  effectively addressing these issues.
• Source Community-Oriented Policing Services,
  U.S. Department of Justice. http//www.cops.usdoj.
  gov/Default.asp?Item36

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Case Studies
http//www.ncjrs.org/pdffiles1/nij/185279.pdf http
//www.ojp.usdoj.gov/nij/maps/Conferences/02conf/P
atrick.doc http//www.ci.mesa.az.us/police/crime_f
ree/cfmulti.asp http//www.cops.usdoj.gov/default.
asp?Item247 http//www.northwestern.edu/ipr/publi
cations/policing.html http//www.crime-prevention-
intl.org/telechargement/inspiringpolicepractices.p
df