Identifying Effective Policing Strategies for Reducing Crime (From New Criminal Justice: American Communities and the Changing World of Crime Control, P 69-82, 2010, John Klofas, Natalie Kroovand Hipple, and Edmund McGarrell, eds. - See NCJ-230360)

• NCJ Number: 230367
• Author(s): Natalie Kroovand Hipple; Edmund F. McGarrell; John M. Klofas; Nicholas A. Corsaro; Heather Perez
• Date Published: 2010
• Length: 14 pages
• Sale Source: Routledge
• Publication Format: Book Chapter
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Given the finding of a 2006 study by the Police Executive Research forum that there is variation across the Nation's cities in patterns and trends in violent crime, the study reported in this chapter examined the characteristics of cities that avoided the increase in violent crime experienced by many cities in 2005-6.

Abstract

The study found that these cities shared long-term and extensive problem-solving approaches to violent crime. Each community has emphasized the building of strong partnerships among all components of the criminal justice system, local government, the business community, and neighborhood groups and residents. These formal partnerships multiplied the resources available for crime-reduction efforts and fostered information sharing. In addition, each community had established regular processes for analyzing crime patterns, feeding this information to officers and managers, and building accountability for crime prevention and control into the mission of the department. By understanding the people, places, and contexts driving local crime problems and coupling these with ongoing assessments of interventions, each site has been able to tailor anti-crime responses to the factors shown to be related to violent crime. Further, each site has decentralized policing services to focus on specific neighborhood and reporting districts, which enhances information sharing and the targeting of accountability measures. An additional factor present in the sites examined was leadership, in that clear leaders were present who emphasized the expectation that the police, working in concert with other community partners, were responsible for preventing and controlling violent crime. The study examined factors in the homicide and robbery patterns and trends in Chicago (IL), El Monte (CA), Tampa (FL), and Topeka (KS). This exploratory study collected background information on each city, and site visits were conducted. The focus was on identifying promising strategies and interventions that impacted violent crime. 2 tables, 1 figure, and 3 notes