Resource Results
Crime reduction policy has focused almost exclusively on offenders. Recent studies and evaluations show that expanding our policy portfolio to include places may be highly productive.
In this policy essay, Malcolm Sparrow considers the implications of the Eck and Eck article on “Crime Place and Pollution” and explores the advantages and disadvantages of an open dialogue between police and other regulatory agencies. Though Sparrow acknowledges that there are differences between police and other regulators, he argues that the commonalties exceed those differences, and that the potential benefits of beginning such as discourse are numerous.
This report describes a preliminary effort to test some popular views about innovation in police organizations and how the change process is managed. It compares responses of police officers in two large municipal police agencies, considering how the police feel about their organizations’ environment to support innovation and about their department’s orientation to specific innovations.
This systematic literature review and meta-analysis of evaluation studies on street gang control strategies focused on articles and reports from multiple bibliographic databases. The database search resulted in a total of 2,060 hits. Of the 297 studies that were examined, only 38 were retained for the systematic review after all screening procedures and inclusion criteria were applied.
There has been a tremendous amount of innovation in policing over the last 40 years, from community and problem-oriented policing to hot spots and intelligence-led policing. Many of these innovations have been subjected to empirical testing, with mixed results on effectiveness. The latest innovation in policing is the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s Smart Policing Initiative (2009). Created in 2009, the SPI provides funding to law enforcement agencies to develop and test evidence-based… Read More
Police academy and in-service curricula primarily focus on preparing officers for the daily tasks of policing, including writing reports, responding to calls for service, making arrests, and submitting evidence. Academies also emphasize training on use of force and the development of driving and other physical fitness skills. Because of these emphases, academies tend to reinforce the reactive and procedural nature of traditional policing. Yet, many crime prevention and organizational… Read More
This study utilized three major data-sets consisting of Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics 2003, two waves of Uniform Crime Report data, and the US Census 2000 data to examine whether the relationship between community policing and crime differs based on the agency size. To operationalize community policing, the authors employed factor analyses. The results yielded three dimensions for the construct of community policing.
The National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) carried out a randomized controlled trial to test the impact of crime maps and policing information. The public’s reaction to information about crime and policing was positive; a large majority thought it was informative and trustworthy. Importantly, the study was able to challenge the myth that sharing information with the public would increase the ‘fear of crime’. In fact, information was found to improve people’s perceptions of their… Read More
This brief summarizes the efforts of states involved in the Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI), a program designed to identify and implement cost-efficient, evidence-based criminal justice reforms. To do so, jurisdictions use data analysis to identify criminal justice population and cost drivers and then develop policy options to reduce those drivers. The 17 states that have adopted the JRI model are projected to save $3.3 billion over 10 years. States plan to reinvest a share of… Read More
Despite a worldwide popularity for Closed Circuit Television (CCTV), best‐practices for its use in policing have been largely understudied. Specifically, little effort has been devoted to understanding how CCTV effects can be maximized. CCTV systems often have a vague mission to “prevent crime” with little consideration given to a number of pertinent issues, such as site selection, proactive monitoring practices, evidence collection, and training (Gill & Spriggs, 2005).
