Citizens’ reactions to hot spots policing: impacts on perceptions of crime, disorder, safety and police

Ratcliffe, Jerry H.; Groff, Elizabeth R.; Sorg, Evan T.; Haberman, Cory P.

doi:10.1007/s11292-015-9230-2

Cited by 71 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…While research to date does not suggest that residents view the police more negatively as a result of hot spots interventions (e.g., Ratcliffe et al. ; Weisburd et al. ), too little research has examined the views of individuals stopped by the police during enforcement‐based interventions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Community Crime Prevention in High–Crime Areas: The Seattle Neighborhood Group Hot Spots Project

Telep

Hibdon

2018

City & Community

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Hot spots policing, in which police resources are directed toward small geographic areas with high crime levels, has been widely implemented and evaluated, but less is known about the effectiveness of nonpolice efforts to address high‐crime locations. Here, we examine the effectiveness of two hot spot interventions led by a community‐based nonprofit organization in Seattle, Washington. We use interrupted time series analysis to assess changes in total calls, as well as drug and disorder events at each site and in catchment areas surrounding each site. We find evidence of significant postintervention declines in calls for one treatment site and a decline in disorder in the second site. Overall, the results provide initial evidence that community‐led crime prevention efforts can have a positive impact on calls in crime and disorder hot spots without significant spatial displacement of crime and disorder. Furthermore, these approaches may be an optimal response to residential hot spots in particular, given current concerns about community reactions to intensive police approaches focused primarily on enforcement.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Community Crime Prevention in High–Crime Areas: The Seattle Neighborhood Group Hot Spots Project

Telep

Hibdon

2018

City & Community

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“…The effectiveness of a hot spot policing tactic that focuses on the people who are causing the problems in hot spots suggests the application of intelligence-led policing tactics might be fruitful at microlevel places. In addition, our results indicate that by focusing police efforts on the problem people associated with the problem places, police can achieve significant crime reductions while avoiding negative community perceptions of their actions (Haberman et al, 2014;Ratcliffe et al, 2012). Additional research is needed that more precisely measures what police officers do while in hot spots if we are to develop greater insight into why some crime reduction tactics are more successful than others.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 81%

Does What Police Do at Hot Spots Matter? The Philadelphia Policing Tactics Experiment*

et al. 2014

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Policing tactics that are proactive, focused on small places or groups of people in small places, and tailor specific solutions to problems using careful analysis of local conditions seem to be effective at reducing violent crime. But which tactics are most effective when applied at hot spots remains unknown. This article documents the design and implementation of a randomized controlled field experiment to test three policing tactics applied to small, high‐crime places: 1) foot patrol, 2) problem‐oriented policing, and 3) offender‐focused policing. A total of 81 experimental places were identified from the highest violent crime areas in Philadelphia (27 areas were judged amenable to each policing tactic). Within each group of 27 areas, 20 places were randomly assigned to receive treatment and 7 places acted as controls. Offender‐focused sites experienced a 42 percent reduction in all violent crime and a 50 percent reduction in violent felonies compared with their control places. Problem‐oriented policing and foot patrol did not significantly reduce violent crime or violent felonies. Potential explanations of these findings are discussed in the contexts of dosage, implementation, and hot spot stability over time.

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“…Yet, this literature is more ambiguous than it initially seems. First, although not specifically evaluating sanction perceptions, there is experimental evidence that hot spots policing has no impact on residents’ views about police performance, safety, or crime (Ratcliffe, Groff, Sorg, and Haberman, ; Weisburd, Hinkle, Famega, and Ready, ). It seems unlikely that hot spots policing would affect sanction perceptions but have no effect on any of these other outcomes.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Arrested Development

Pickett

Roche

2016

Criminology & Public Policy

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Research Summary Deterrence theory assumes that objective and subjective sanction risk are positively related. If this assumption holds true, then the theory is useful for guiding criminal justice policy and practice. However, prior research has failed to support the assumption. Prominent review articles have dismissed this literature on the basis of methodological critiques, and they have presented certain requirements for future deterrence research to be considered credible. Informed by these reviews, Nagin, Solow, and Lum's (NSL, 2015) new deterrence theory of policing rests on the assumption of a strong positive relationship between objective and subjective sanction risk. NSL have asserted that their theory has significant policy implications; indeed, they have contended it reveals a need to alter American policing fundamentally. We elaborate why the critiques of the discredited literature are premature, and we suggest that the plausibility of NSL's theory is called into question by this literature, as well as by other logical inconsistencies. We conclude by emphasizing how much remains unknown about sanction perception updating, hot spots policing, and heuristics and biases in offender decision making. Policy Implications Our central argument is that NSL's (2015) policy recommendations are premature given that their theoretical model is inconsistent with existing evidence. Pending a better understanding of sanction perceptions, we suggest putting aside dictates for how police should best deter offenders and about what constitutes credible deterrence research. Rather, both policy makers and researchers should prioritize efforts to identify the sources of sanction perceptions, while taking seriously the possibility that such perceptions may, in part, be intuitive judgments influenced by well‐known cognitive heuristics.

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Citizens’ reactions to hot spots policing: impacts on perceptions of crime, disorder, safety and police

Cited by 71 publications

References 36 publications

Community Crime Prevention in High–Crime Areas: The Seattle Neighborhood Group Hot Spots Project

Community Crime Prevention in High–Crime Areas: The Seattle Neighborhood Group Hot Spots Project

Does What Police Do at Hot Spots Matter? The Philadelphia Policing Tactics Experiment*

Arrested Development

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