This guide deals with “gas drive-offs”—a form of theft in which motorists intentionally drive away from a convenience store or gasoline service station without paying for gas they have pumped into their vehicle’s tanks. The guide reviews factors that are correlated with an increased risk of this crime. It also covers employee theft related to gas sales; for example, when attendants make false reports of drive-offs and pocket the money the driver paid. The guide then identifies a series of questions to help you analyze your local gas drive-off problem. Finally, it reviews responses to the problem and what is known about these from research and police practice.
This guide addresses tourist crime, beginning by describing the problem and reviewing the factors that contribute to it. It then identifies a series of questions to help you analyze your local problem. Finally, it provides a number of measures your agency can take to address the problem and to evaluate responses. The guide addresses tourist crimes committed in the United States, although the information provided here will no doubt benefit those readers dealing with the problem abroad.
This guide addresses the problem of financial crimes against the elderly. It begins by describing the problem and reviewing risk factors. It then identifies a series of questions to help you analyze your local problem. Finally, it reviews responses to the problem and describes the conditions under which they are most effective. Financial crimes against the elderly fall under two general categories: fraud committed by strangers, and financial exploitation by relatives and caregivers. These categories sometimes overlap in terms of target selection and the means used to commit the crime. However, the differences in the offender-victim relationships suggest different methods for analyzing and responding to the problem.
This guide begins by describing the problem of convenience store robbery and reviewing factors that increase its risk. It then identifies a series of questions to help you analyze your local convenience store robbery problem. Finally, it reviews responses to the problem and what is known about these from evaluative research and police practice.
We begin this guide by describing the problem of theft of customers’ personal property from cafés and bars and reviewing associated risk factors. We then identify a series of questions to help you analyze your local problem, and, finally, review responses to this type of problem. At present, evaluative research—whether carried out independently or by the police—is scarce; consequently it is not possible to draw any firm conclusions as to which responses to theft of customers’ personal property from cafés and bars are the most effective. Nevertheless, we review several responses to this problem and make tentative statements as to their effectiveness.
By Graeme R. Newman and Jessica Herbert
This guide describes the problem of check and card fraud, and reviews factors that increase the risks of it. It then identifies a series of questions to help you analyze your local problem. Finally, it reviews responses to the problem, and what is known about them from evaluative research and police practice.
The guide covers fraud involving (1) all types of checks and (2) plastic cards, including debit, charge, credit, and “smart” cards. Each can involve a different payment method. While there are some obvious differences between check and card fraud, the limitations and opportunities for fraud and its prevention and control by local police are similar enough to warrant addressing them together. Furthermore, some cards (e.g., debit cards) are used and processed in a similar way to checks, and electronic checks are processed in a similar way to cards, so that the traditional distinction between cards and checks is fast eroding.
Read more at the Center for Problem Oriented Policing