By: Peter Guillaume, Aiden Sidebottom and Nick Tilley

This paper describes the origins, development and experience of an extended collaborative relationship between the UCL Jill Dando Institute (JDI) of Security and Crime Science at University College London and Warwickshire Police and Warwickshire County Council. This is discussed in the context of a practitioner-led problem-oriented policing project to reduce bag theft from British supermarkets. The case study highlights many of the ways in which universities and police and partnership agencies can work fruitfully with one another. Our hope is that the case study might yield insights into potential determinants of effective academic–practitioner collaborations.

Police Practice and Research; Vol. 13, No. 4, August 2012, 389–401

By: Ferhat Tura, James Hunter, Rebecca Thompson, and Andromachi Tseloni

Previous research consistently demonstrates that problem-oriented policing (POP) can address a range of policing issues; hence its continued appeal and relevance to current practice. However, there are well-documented challenges in terms of its implementation and sustenance within police forces. Studies of policing styles have yet to thoroughly assess the long-term commitment to POP within police forces in England and Wales. To this end, we first revisit and revise previous research findings on policing styles. Then, we advance a methodology for retrospectively measuring police force POP commitment using two novel indicators—problem-oriented projects submitted to the Tilley Award and those applied as part of the Crime Reduction Programme. We then rank police forces in terms of POP commitment. The empirical evidence and methodology presented here can be used to further examine contemporary adherence to POP as well as the role of policing styles in long-term crime falls or other policing outcomes in England and Wales.

Policing, Volume 00, Number 0, pp. 1–14

By: John Eck

Advancement of problem-oriented policing has been stymied by over-attention to police organizations and under-attention to police problems. This paper develops a research agenda for understanding police problems by addressing four fundamental questions: What are problems? What causes problems? How can we find effective solutions to problems? And how can we learn from problem solving? For each question a possible direction for theory, research, or evaluation is suggested. The variety of police problems, their non-linear feedback systems, the diversity of responses that can be applied to problems, and the difficulty of learning from problem-solving experiences highlight the complexity of police problems. The paper closes with a list of research questions designed to improve the science and practice of problem analysis and solution.

Crime Prevention Studies, vol. 15 (2003), pp. 79-113.

By: Julienne Weegels

Nicaragua has implemented a community-oriented policing model in addition to providing a prison system that is based on the premise of prisoners’ re-education. Though these are part of the criminal justice system, they are also presented as social policies with the objective of social (re) insertion of marginalised urban youth particularly. On the premise that detention is temporary and beneicial, these policies claim to prevent (youth) criminality and to reform its perpetrators. Yet they mostly push these youths into a spiral of continued state interventions. Through an analysis of youth-oriented public policy and an examination of the expansion of criminal justice services, complemented by ethnographic research material collected with young (former) prisoners, this article demonstrates how and why social policy for youth is being carried out by the criminal justice system. This development is underpinned by the securitisation of social policy and a political culture of social conservatism that renders marginalised youth unworthy of social protection.

OXFORD DEVELOPMENT STUDIES, 2017; https://doi.org/10.1080/13600818.2017.1391192

By: Michael S. Scott

Problem-oriented policing initiatives are one important form of crime prevention, and they offer opportunities for learning about implementation success and failure. Problem-oriented policing initiatives can succeed or fail for a variety of reasons, among them: inaccurate identification of the probk?n, inaccurate analysis of the problem, inadequate implementation, or application of an incorrect theory. This paper draws upon both the research literature and reports on problem-oriented policing initiatives to identify those factors that best explain why action plans do or do not get implemented. It identifies and provides examples of five clusters of factors that help explain implementation success or failure: (I) characteristics, skills, and actions of project managers; (2) resources (3) support and cooperation external to the police agency; (4) evidence; and (5) complexity of implementation.

Crime Prevention Studies, volume 20 (2006), pp. 9-35

By: John E. Eck

Increasing attention is being paid to the systematic review and synthesis of evaluations of large-scale, generic, crime prevention programs. The utility of these syntheses rests on the assumption that the programs are designed to work across a wide variety of contexts. But many police problem-solving efforts and situational prevention interventions are small-scale efforts specifically tailored to individual contexts. Do evaluation designs and methods applicable to generic programs apply to problem specific programs? Answering this questions requires examining the differences between propensity-based and opportunity-blocking interventions; between internal and external validity; and between the needs of practitioner evaluators and academic researchers. This paper demonstrates that in some common circumstances, weak evaluation designs may have greater utility and produce more generalizable results than very strong evaluation designs. This conclusion has important implications for evaluations of place-based opportunity blocking, and for how we draw general conclusions about what works when, and what seldom ever works.

Crime Prevention Studies, volume 14, pp 93-117

By: Thalia Anthony

This paper addresses the trends in sentencing by higher courts of Indigenous protesters against ‘white’ racist violence. It contrasts earlier sentencing decisions affecting resisters on the Yarrabah Reserve in 1981 and towards the 1987 death in custody of Lloyd Boney at Brewarrina (NSW), with later sentencing of protesters after Mulrunji’s death in custody on Palm Island in 2004. It argues that Indigenous resisters are increasingly characterised by sentencing judges as out-of-control rather than capable of legitimate political engagement. This dovetails a denunciation of the Indigenous community in media moral panics that demands more punitive restraint.

Criminology and Law Enforcement; 12/2009

By Roberto Santos and Rachel Santos    

The three elements of community policing are (1) partnerships, (2) problem-solving, and (3) organizational transformation. These elements depend on one another: To develop meaningful partnerships with the community and conduct collaborative problem-solving, the community must trust the police and see them as legitimate in their authority. Research has established that an effective way of increasing legitimacy and trust is consistent, positive engagement between police and community members. Police departments have developed many community policing programs and events that bring police and community members together to interact in positive ways; some of the longest-established include Police Athletic Leagues (PAL), National Night Out, and Coffee with a Cop. Generally, such programs are carried out by designated community policing units or a small number of specific personnel, or through a publicity campaign or social media. There are fewer established models for implementing community engagement departmentwide. This guide focuses on promoting positive interpersonal interactions between community members and officers at any rank outside of normal law enforcement, management, or administrative duties. These proactive community contacts could be one-time or regular interactions, but they are personalized, often brief, direct, and positive. The significance of a simple type of interpersonal connection cannot be stressed enough: Research shows that community members’ opinions of police are greatly affected by positive contacts.3 The challenge is setting up a framework to make officers—not only patrol officers, but detectives, sergeants, managers, and commanders—more willing to proactively and consistently engage with the community in a way that makes sense for their positions and can easily become part of their normal duties. Such a framework can help an agency more easily systematize department-wide community engagement to build legitimacy and trust, which improves community acceptance of police efforts to partner, problem-solve, and prevent crime. Hearing from the police is important to translating concepts supported by research into realistic ways to operationalize best practices. The discussion in this guide is the outcome of focus groups conducted with officers at every rank from a wide range of departments across the United States. Ninety-seven people participated in 12 focus groups conducted via video conferencing—two each of officers or detectives, sergeants, lieutenants, captains or commanders, executive-level staff, and agency heads. The objective of the focus groups was to understand what would make law enforcement—both individuals and the broader police culture—more amenable to community engagement in daily activities and to identify challenges to community engagement implementation. Analysis of the conversations focused on finding out which activities are easy and realistic for law enforcement officers to implement individually and what organizational support they need to do so. The results, presented here, offer considerations about how to operationalize proactive community engagement with clear expectations, mechanisms for accountability, and alignment with proactive crime reduction and crime prevention. The discussion covers why community engagement is important; a framework, outlined by the major themes from the focus groups, for operationalizing community engagement; and, as an example, an application of the framework to one specific community engagement strategy—community walks. Our hope is that agencies will use this framework to implement any type of engagement strategy that can work for their communities.   

 Washington, DC: Office of Community Oriented Policing Services., 2024. 26p. 

By The National Policing Institute

Large and small law enforcement agencies across the United States use specialized police units to solve community problems that traditional patrol units lack the resources or expertise to address. Throughout the decades, specialized units—most notably specialized enforcement units focused on crime control in certain areas—have at times run afoul of law enforcement’s mission and of the Constitution. These instances of police misconduct can destroy the legitimacy of their own and other agencies and severely undermine community and officer safety. In the wake of Tyre Nichols’s tragic death in 2023 at the hands of officers assigned to a Memphis (Tennessee) Police Department specialized enforcement unit, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) heard from police chiefs across the country who were assessing their use of specialized units. The DOJ committed to providing a guide to assist law enforcement leaders, mayors, and communities in assessing the appropriateness of specialized units and ensuring the effective management and necessary accountability of such units. This guide is intended to benefit all state, local, tribal, and territorial (SLTT) agencies irrespective of their history with specialized units or those units’ size. In early 2023, the DOJ’s Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS Office) and the National Policing Institute (NPI) partnered to hold a series of convenings, roundtable discussions, and interviews with law enforcement and community stakeholders to inform this guide. Law enforcement participants represented many types and sizes of SLTT agencies and included active supervisors of specialized units; other participants included individuals from several civil rights and community advocacy groups, many of whom work in and have a deep understanding of the perspectives of communities impacted by specialized units. The participants’ wide range of experiences, expertise, and perspectives played an indispensable role in forming the considerations represented in this guide. The information presented in this guide was gleaned from many dedicated experts concerned with improving policing and creating safe communities. It is presented as considerations because they are just that: considerations, not edicts. Every law enforcement agency is different, serving unique communities and with unique public safety concerns. Recognizing these disparate needs, each agency should use the considerations in this guide in the manner that works best for it. The COPS Office and NPI strongly believe that using these considerations will strengthen an agency’s ability to police in an effective and just manner. The goal of the guide is to give practical, actionable considerations for agencies and communities to help determine whether to form a specialized unit, and if so, how to ensure appropriate management, oversight, and accountability for any such unit. The guide looks at four critical stages of a specialized unit’s development: (1) formation, (2) personnel selection and supervision, (3) management and accountability, and (4) community engagement. For document organization and ease of reading, the stages are presented as chronological or linear, spanning the life cycle of a specialized unit, but the authors realize that many agencies already have existing specialized units and can tailor the use of this guide to their unique needs. Several key considerations are put forth for each section of the guide.   

Washington, DC: Office of Community Oriented Policing Services. 2024. 72p.  

By: Paul Michael Cozens, Greg Saville, and David Hillier

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to critically review the core findings from recently published place-based crime prevention research. The paper aims to critically evaluate the available evidence on the contribution of crime prevention through environmental design as a crime prevention strategy.

Design/methodology/approach – Large-scale evaluations of crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED) are reviewed with a view to clarifying current knowledge on the evidence of crime prevention through environmental design.

Findings – The review concludes that there is a growing body of research that supports the assertion that crime prevention through environmental design is effective in reducing both crime and fear of crime in the community.

Research limitations/implications – Although the paper may not review all the evaluations of CPTED, it nonetheless provides a detailed compilation and overview of the most significant research in the area, including an extensive and modern bibliography on the subject. Research implications will be the subject of a forthcoming paper.

Practical implications – CPTED is an increasingly fashionable approach and is being implemented on a global scale. Additionally, individual components such as territoriality, surveillance, maintenance, access control, activity support and target-hardening are being widely deployed. However, the evidence currently available is inconclusive and much criticised, which effectively prevents widespread intervention and investment by central government. The paper details the difficulties associated with demonstrating the effectiveness of CPTED.

Originality/value – The paper concludes that although empirical proof has not been definitively demonstrated, there is a large and growing body of research, which supports the assertion that crime prevention through environmental design is a pragmatic and effective crime prevention tool. This review provides an extensive bibliography of contemporary crime prevention through environmental design and a follow-up paper will discuss the future research priorities for it.

Property Management Vol. 23 No. 5, 2005 pp. 328-356

By: John E. Eck & Emily B. Eck

On May 16, 2010, in the Club Ritz nightclub, Jerry Scott shot Dexter Burroughs dead. This was the second killing in the bar since 1998. Five years earlier, four people were shot near the club, one by the police and three in a separate incident. Four years earlier, a fight at the club resulted in a car chase that killed Philiant Johnson and wounded three others. On Valentine’s Day 2010, three people were shot in the club’s parking lot (Baker, 2010; Horst, 2010). After the killing of Burroughs, the club closed for several months but then reopened. Police state that since reopening, “14 arrests for disorderly conduct or drug possession have been made at the club, plus 10 assaults, four domestic violence incidents, a robbery and carjacking” (Whitaker, 2011). The owner of the club stated: “It’s not our fault. Nightclubs do not kill people. People kill people” (Nightclub and Bar, 2010). Just as the owner of the Club Ritz implies they should, current crime policies focus exclusively on offenders. We suggest he is wrong—crime reduction policies also should focus on places. Research has established that crime is concentrated at places; yet to date, policy makers and criminologists have focused most of their attention on two policy prescriptions: use coercion to deter or remove offenders, use forms of social assistance to divert potential offenders from crime, or convince active offenders to pursue legitimate activities (Weisburd, Telep, and Braga, 2010).

Criminology & Public Policy Volume 11 Issue 2

By: KENT R. KERLEY & MICHAEL L. BENSON

Advocates of community-oriented policing contend that it has great potential to reduce crime and fear because it strengthens community social organization and cohesion. Previous studies of community policing, however, fail to include community process variables as outcome measures and instead focus on outcome measures such as crime rates and fear of crime. Despite the recent focus by criminologists on community context in general studies of crime and delinquency, no direct attempt has been made to investigate the potential relationship between community policing and broader community processes such as community organization, cohesion, and cooperative security. Using data from a comprehensive community policing study conducted in Oakland, California, and Birmingham, Alabama, from 1987 to 1989, this article investigates whether community policing strategies have effects on community processes. Findings indicate that community policing tactics do not have strong effects on community processes. These results may help explain why community policing has so far had little measurable impact on crime and fear of crime, and may be instructive for the design and evaluation of future community policing studies.

POLICE QUARTERLY Vol. 3 No. 1, March 2000 46–69

By: Michael S. Scott

What works in policing? David Weisburd, Cody W. Telep, Joshua C. Hinkle, and John E. Eck (2010, this issue) sought to answer this core question in their review of problem-oriented policing. Herman Goldstein proposed the problem-oriented approach in 197 as the means by which the police could achieve their objectives more effectively and, thereby, improve the overall police institution. Weisburd et al. set out to put the problem-oriented approach to the test some 30 years later. Given the ambitiousness of Goldstein’d proposal, it follows that Weisburd et al.’s study in equally ambitious and important. If problem-oriented policing is proven to work, then it would stand to reason that police and local governments should commit to the approach more fully. if it is proven not to work, then reconsideration of the approach—either to better understand why it is not working or to pursue alternative approaches to policing—would be warranted.

Criminology฀&฀Public฀Policy฀•฀Volume฀9฀•฀Issue฀1

DREXEL, BILL; WITHERS, CALEB

From the document: "In 2020, COVID-19 brought the world to its knees, with nearly 29 million estimated deaths, acute social and political disruptions, and vast economic fallout. However, the event's impact could have been far worse if the virus had been more lethal, more transmissible, or both. For decades, experts have warned that humanity is entering an era of potential catastrophic pandemics that would make COVID-19 appear mild in comparison. History is well acquainted with such instances, not least the 1918 Spanish Flu, the Black Death, and the Plague of Justinian--each of which would have dwarfed COVID-19's deaths if scaled to today's populations. Equally concerning, many experts have sounded alarms of possible deliberate bioattacks in the years ahead. [...] This report aims to clearly assess AI's impact on the risks of biocatastrophe. It first considers the history and existing risk landscape in American biosecurity independent of AI disruptions. Drawing on a sister report, 'Catalyzing Crisis: A Primer on Artificial Intelligence, Catastrophes, and National Security,' this study then considers how AI is impacting biorisks across four dimensions of AI safety: new capabilities, technical challenges, integration into complex systems, and conditions of AI development. Building on this analysis, the report identifies areas of future capability development that may substantially alter the risks of large-scale biological catastrophes worthy of monitoring as the technology continues to evolve. Finally, the report recommends actionable steps for policymakers to address current and near-term risks of biocatastrophes."

CENTER FOR A NEW AMERICAN SECURITY. 2024.

By: Richard L. Glover

Community and Problem Oriented Policing (CPOP) is a multidimensional strategy used by police departments to control crime and improve the quality of life in targeted areas. This monograph presents CPOP as a possible solution to the problem of school violence. It identifies design components and process dimensions that can contribute to successful applications of CPOP. Five models have gained wide acceptance as strategies for school-based problem-solving around safety and security issues: the School Resource Officer model, student problem-solving, the public health model, the Child Development-Community Policing Program, and the collaborative problem-solving model. Eight components from these five models are fundamental to school-based CPOP: police-school partnerships, problem-solving approach, a collaboration that reflects full stakeholder involvement, organizational support, education and training of problem-solving group members, effective planning approaches, appropriate problem-solving group size, and use of memoranda of understanding. The process dimensions associated with successful implementation of CPOP in schools are partnering between schools and police, collaborative problem solving, implementation, and evaluation of the overall CPOP effort.

Information Analyses (070), 58p., 2002

By: Chris Herring

Over the past 30 years, cities across the United States have adopted quality-of-life ordinances aimed at policing social marginality. Scholars have documented zero-tolerance policing and emerging tactics of therapeutic policing in these efforts, but little attention has been paid to 911 calls and forms of third-party policing in governing public space and the poor. Drawing on an analysis of 3.9 million 911 and 311 call records and participant observation alongside police officers, social workers, and homeless men and women residing on the streets of San Francisco, this article elaborates a model of “complaint-oriented policing” to explain additional causes and consequences of policing visible poverty. Situating the police within a broader bureaucratic field of poverty governance, I demonstrate how policing aimed at the poor can be initiated by callers, organizations, and government agencies, and how police officers manage these complaints in collaboration and conflict with health, welfare, and sanitation agencies. Expanding the conception of the criminalization of poverty, which is often centered on incarceration or arrest, the study reveals previously unforeseen consequences of move-along orders, citations, and threats that dispossess the poor of property, create barriers to services and jobs, and increase vulnerability to violence and crime.

American Sociological Review 1 –32

By: L. Thomas Winfree Jr and Greg Newbold

Police in New Zealand have a well-established community-policing tradition. The current research is based on a survey of 440 officers, or roughly 6 percent of the New Zealand Police's sworn personnel We focused on the personal values, interpersonal relationships, and work situations of the officers as a way of understanding their respective levels of satisfaction with their jobs and assessment of their superiors. The goal was to determine the extent to which job satisfaction and perceptions of supervisory support varied within a national police force officially committed to community policing. The findings suggest that, even in a national police with an avowed community-policing orientation, not all police officers perceived the work world in the same terms. We further address the policy implications of these findings.

22 Policing Int. J. Police Strat. & Mgmt. 589 1999

By Kian Gaines

INTRODUCTION: Community-Oriented Policing Services (COPS) emerged in response to longstanding criticisms revolving around police accountability and effectiveness. It emphasizes civilian participation in crime-prevention and problem-solving efforts to build trust between the police and minoritized communities with whom they have had an antagonistic relationship. Traditional policing is reactive in nature, with officers acting only after crime has been committed or a call for service has been made; it enforces the law; "legitimizes" use of violence; and emulates military structure and tactics. In this study I describe it as “crime-fighting policing.” COPS programs are embedded within this structure. Unlike traditional policing, COPS is characterized by four dimensions: philosophical, strategic, tactical, and organizational (Cordner 1999).

LITERATURE REVIEW: Kennedy and Moore (1995) argue that the proper unit of analysis is not the program, but the police organization and its capacity to be flexible, innovative, and collaborative. However, there is a lack of research that (1) focuses on community-oriented policing programs and (2) examines how they are embedded within police departments and communities.

OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY: Research questions include: What are the attitudes of traditional crime-fighting police toward community policing? In what ways (if any) do these attitudes affect members of community policing programs or their goals? What are the goals of community policing versus the goals of crime-fighting police? How are community police officers and crime-fighting police trained?

METHOD: A combination of indepth interviews and observations of Chicago Police officers, both CAPS (Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy) and “regular” police officers, will be used to address these questions.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK: A theoretical framework of organizational hypocrisy, referring to organizations acting in ways that are contrary to their stated goals, will be used to analyze the data.

PRELIMINARY FINDINGS: Observations of CPD artifacts revealed that eight of Chicago’s twenty-five districts currently do not have any community events planned for the near future. Some of the remaining districts have scheduled “beat meetings” between community members and CAPS officers organized around “beats” (small geographic patrols) and meetings revolve around more specific issues (domestic violence, faith, and seniors) or committees.

(2021). Sociology and Anthropology. 7.

By: Josef Racz

Kábítószerptoblémák kezelése a magyar rendőrségen belül. A kábítószer-bűncselekmények ismertetése és a rendőri fellépés lehetőségei. Rendőrség és társadalmi kontroll.

NEMZETI KÁBÍTÓSZERÜGYI KOORDINÁCIÓS IGAZGATÓSÁG, ORSZÁGOS BŰNMEGELŐZÉSI BIZOTTSÁG, Budapest 2009

By: Bahadar Nawab, Shakir Ullah, Ingrid Nyborg, Tahir Maqsood

Community-police relations in Pakistan are often intricate, as are their reforms. Mistrust, political intervention, meager financial resources, lack of educated/trained human resources, over-expectations and miscommunication are some of the factors contributing to weak policing and poor community-police relations. The police as a service-oriented public institution has been a demand of the public and the dream of consecutive governments. In this study, we explore the political, institutional and technical reforms taken by the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and the police department to improve their police and policing. The Police Act 2017 and Community-Oriented Policing, Dispute Resolution Councils (DRCs), and Information and Communications Technology (ICT) initiatives are critically analyzed in terms of their intentions and contribution to improved police-community relations. Politicians, police, civil society organizations and community members from KP were interviewed for their perceptions of police reforms and community-police relations. The study finds strong political will to empower and depoliticize police, and to shift its focus from purely crime fighting into community service provision, including pro-active engagement of police with the community. The study also finds that most of the new initiatives of the government of KP are in the spirit of community-oriented policing, and community members see visible improvement in policing and community-police relations.

Journal of Human Security | 2019 | Volume 15 | Issue 2 | Pages 41–53