How Much Time Should the Police Spend at Crime Hot Spots? Answers from a Police Agency Directed Randomized Field Trial in Sacramento, California

Telep, Cody W.; Mitchell, Renée J.; Weisburd, David

doi:10.1080/07418825.2012.710645

Cited by 151 publications

(113 citation statements)

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“…A recent Campbell Collaboration systematic review showed that most tests of hot spot policing were associated with significant reductions in crime in treatment hot spots compared to control conditions (Braga and Clarke 2014;Braga et al 2012). The list of hot spots experiments is continuously growing (e.g., Ratcliffe et al 2011;Rosenfeld et al 2014;Telep et al 2012). Taken together, it reflects a Bstrong body of evidence [which] suggests that taking a focused geographic approach to crime problems can increase the effectiveness of policing ( Skogan and Frydl 2004, p. 247).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…There is an increasing focus in the literature on determining Bthe optimal strategies^of hot spot policing (Koper 2014). Some recent studies continue to reaffirm Sherman and Weisburd's (1995) original finding based on pure saturation, with no effort to structure what police actually do in hot spots (Telep et al 2012). Yet others have begun to look more closely at precisely what specific aspects of police presence may more effectively prevent crime than others.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Given the resources constraints and the distance between the hot spots, each hot spot was assigned to receive three separate one-PCSO patrol visit per day, or 780 visits per hot spot over 12 months. Each visit was required to last 15 minutes, based on prior evidence about how to maximize residual deterrent effects after PCSOs left the scene as demonstrated by the Koper Curve (Koper 1995;Telep et al 2012). Throughout the experimental period, the assignment of PCSOs to the hot spots was on a rotating basis, so that PCSOs patrolled different combinations of the 34 treatment hot spots rather than being limited to a few hot spots for all patrols.…”

Section: Treatment Conditionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Repeated randomized trials show that targeted increases in police patrol deployment reduce recorded crime in the targeted areas, compared to control areas, both patrolling in marked police cars (Sherman and Weisburd 1995;Telep et al 2012) and on foot (Ratcliffe et al 2011). Systematic reviews of the evidence on hot spots policing experiments suggest that the benefits associated with it exceed the costs (Braga et al 1999(Braga et al , 2012, without much evidence of spatial displacement to adjacent areas in the vicinity of the targeted hot spots (Bowers et al 2011;Weisburd et al 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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“Soft” policing at hot spots—do police community support officers work? A randomized controlled trial

2016

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Objectives To determine whether crime-reduction effects of increased police patrols in hot spots are dependent on the Bhard^threat of immediate physical arrest, or whether Bsoft^patrols by civilian (but uniformed) police staff with few arrest powers and no weapons can also reduce crime. We also sought to assess whether the number of discrete patrol visits to a hot spot was more or less important than the total minutes of police presence across all visits, and whether effects based on counts of crime would be consistent with effects on a Crime Harm Index outcome. Methods We randomly assigned 72 hot spots into 34 treatment units and 38 controls. Treatment consisted of increases in foot patrol by uniformed, unarmed, Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) who carry no weapons and hold few arrest powers beyond those of ordinary citizens. GPS-trackers on every PCSO and Constable in the city yielded precise measurements of all patrol time in all hot spots. Standardized mean differences (Cohen's d), OLS regression model, and Weighted Displacement Quotient are used to assess main effects, to model the interaction effect of GPS data with treatment, and to measure the diffusion-of-benefits of the intervention, respectively. Outcomes included counts of incidents as well as the Cambridge Crime Harm Index. Results As intended, patrol visits and minutes by Police Constables were equal across the treatment and control groups. The sole difference in policing between the treatments groups was in visits to the hot spots by PCSOs, in both the mean daily frequency of discrete visits (T = 4.65, C = 2.66; p ≤ .001) and total minutes across all visits (T = 37.41, J Exp Criminol (2016) 12:277-317 DOI 10.1007/s11292-016-9260-

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Treatment Conditionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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“Soft” policing at hot spots—do police community support officers work? A randomized controlled trial

2016

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“…Data Two independent measures of patrol were used to analyze initial and new data on the 42 hot spots that Telep et al (2014) studied in 21 matched pairs for the SHSE: Computer-Assisted Dispatch (CAD) records on the number of and duration of patrol visits to each hot spot (initial data), and Automatic Vehicle Locator (AVL) (new) data on total patrol time within the Bgeo-fenced^area of each hot spot. The patrol measures were linked to two outcome measures at each hot spot.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Frequency Versus Duration of Police Patrol Visits for Reducing Crime in Hot Spots: Non-Experimental Findings from the Sacramento Hot Spots Experiment

Mitchell

2017

Camb J Evid Based Polic

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Research Question Was the effect of police patrols reducing crime and disorder in the Sacramento Hot Spots Experiment (SHSE) more strongly associated with the average frequency of patrol visits or the total duration of all visits combined? Data Two independent measures of patrol were used to analyze initial and new data on the 42 hot spots that Telep et al. (2014) studied in 21 matched pairs for the SHSE: Computer-Assisted Dispatch (CAD) records on the number of and duration of patrol visits to each hot spot (initial data), and Automatic Vehicle Locator (AVL) (new) data on total patrol time within the Bgeo-fenced^area of each hot spot. The patrol measures were linked to two outcome measures at each hot spot. Part I crime reports and citizen-generated Calls for Service (CFS) records for events occurring within the hot spot street address boundaries. Methods All SHSE pairs of hot spots were examined as a meta-analysis of 21 experiments for differences in frequency and total duration of patrols. Then all 42 hot spots were examined for correlations between outcome measures and CAD data on frequency and duration, plus AVL data on duration [AVL data could not reliably measure frequency of discrete patrol visits]. Findings The SHSE created large mean differences between experimental and control conditions in both frequency and total duration of patrols, which were highly correlated (r = .9). Correlations of CAD measures of before-during increases in frequency, but not duration, of patrols across all 42 hot spots predicted somewhat fewer event counts of both outcome measures: crime reports (r = −.273, one-tailed p = .04) and CFS (r = −.234, one-tailed p = .068). In contrast, AVL data on before-during increases in duration showed somewhat less crime with more duration of total patrol time (r = −.231, one-tailed p = .07), but no effect of more duration on CFS. Conclusions Based on the analysis of CAD data, police may be able to reduce crime and disorder more effectively by making more frequent patrols in each hot spot, while reducing the total time of all patrols. Contrary to the policy conclusion from the Koper (1995) Curve, the CAD findings may suggest there is greater benefit in having more visits of under 15 min rather than having fewer visits that all last from 10 to 15 min each. Yet, the evidence from this study is mixed. The CAD finding is contradicted by this study's AVL data analysis, which show that greater increases in total patrol duration did predict somewhat fewer crimes (but not CFS). Since both the CAD and AVL findings are correlational rather than based on random assignment of frequency and duration, field experiments are now needed to provide more definitive answers to the research question.

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Hot Spots Policing

Telep¹,

Weisburd²

2015

The Encyclopedia of Crime and Punishment

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Hot spots policing involves police focusing more resources on small units of geography (e.g., addresses, street blocks, small groups of street blocks) with high levels of criminal activity. The tactics police use at these crime hot spots can vary, but often involve some combination of increasing patrol presence and problem solving. There are a large number of rigorous evaluations of hot spots policing suggesting that the approach can be effective in reducing crime and disorder without simply displacing crime to areas nearby.

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How Much Time Should the Police Spend at Crime Hot Spots? Answers from a Police Agency Directed Randomized Field Trial in Sacramento, California

Cited by 151 publications

References 28 publications

“Soft” policing at hot spots—do police community support officers work? A randomized controlled trial

“Soft” policing at hot spots—do police community support officers work? A randomized controlled trial

Frequency Versus Duration of Police Patrol Visits for Reducing Crime in Hot Spots: Non-Experimental Findings from the Sacramento Hot Spots Experiment

Hot Spots Policing

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