Problem-oriented policing (POP), coined by
University of Wisconsin–Madison
The University of Wisconsin–Madison (University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin, UW, UW–Madison, or simply Madison) is a public land-grant research university in Madison, Wisconsin, United States. It was founded in 1848 when Wisconsin achieved st ...
professor
Herman Goldstein, is a policing strategy that involves the identification and analysis of specific
crime
In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...
and
disorder problems, in order to develop effective response strategies. POP requires police to identify and target underlying problems that can lead to crime. Goldstein suggested it as an improvement on the reactive, incident-driven "standard model of policing".
Goldstein's 1979 model was expanded in 1987 by John E. Eck and William Spelman into the
Scanning, Analysis, Response, and Assessment (SARA) model for problem-solving.
[Center for Problem Oriented Policing](_blank)
- What is POP? This strategy places more emphasis on
research
Research is creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge. It involves the collection, organization, and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness to ...
and analysis as well as
crime prevention
Crime prevention refers to strategies and measures that seek to reduce the risk of crime occurring by intervening before a crime has been committed. It encompasses many approaches, including developmental, situational, community-based and crimin ...
and the engagement of public and private
organization
An organization or organisation (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English; American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), see spelling differences) is an legal entity, entity—such as ...
s in the reduction of community problems.
A
systematic review
A systematic review is a scholarly synthesis of the evidence on a clearly presented topic using critical methods to identify, define and assess research on the topic. A systematic review extracts and interprets data from published studies on ...
of this model, based on 34 randomized control trials and quasi-experimental studies, found that problem-oriented policing is effective at reducing crime and disorder, but had a limited effect on police legitimacy and fear of crime. There is also the risk of overreach, corruption, and abuse of authority, when officers interfere before crimes have actually occurred.
History
Criticism
Problem-oriented policing can have some
unintended consequences, including displacement of the problem from its origins.
The majority of problem-oriented policing projects fail to investigate displacement. Law enforcement is generally satisfied to achieve a crime reduction in the targeted area and may be less concerned if crime is displaced outside their jurisdiction. However, assessing and understanding potential displacement effects can help ensure the effectiveness of problem-oriented policing. Response to criticism of POP based on this unintended consequence has been challenged: a systematic review published in 2011 argued that while displacement is viewed as a negative consequence of crime prevention efforts, it can provide benefits.
Another criticism comes from a particular challenge to many policing approaches: trust. If a community has no trust in law enforcement, then law enforcement and the community will have friction. As difficult as it is often for police officers to obtain "buy-in" within, it is often even more difficult to convince people outside the police department, such as community partners, to carry out specific tasks faithfully and properly without a negative inference of its inadequacy in satisfying the expectations of the masses.
Evaluations
Michael Scott's 20-year retrospective concludes: "After 20 years, problem-oriented policing has demonstrated an internal logic that has been successfully applied at the project level and remains a promising approach for the foreseeable future."
[Scott, Michael S]
Problem-Oriented Policing: Reflections on the First 20 Years
Washington D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services, 2000. p. 129.
See also
*
Community oriented policing
*
Crime displacement
*
Broken windows theory
*
Intelligence-led policing
*
Evidence-based policing
*
Peelian principles
*
Neighbourhood policing team
References
External links
Center for Problem-Oriented Policing* Herman Goldstein
Improving Policing: A Problem-Oriented Approach ''Crime & Delinquency'' (April 1979):236-243.
Law enforcement theory
Law enforcement techniques
Crime prevention
Types of policing