This paper reports on a study that evaluated problem-oriented policing efforts in two mid-sized East Coast cities in the US; it discusses the study’s identification of 60 and 42 crime hot-spots in the cities, and the assignment of community-infused versions of POP or standard patrol services, noting that this randomized controlled trial took place during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdown and anti-police and social justice protest movements of 2020.
This randomized controlled trial (RCT) assessed the effectiveness of a community-infused problem-oriented policing (CPOP) intervention on reducing property/violent crime. In two mid-Atlantic cities, a total of 102 crime hot spots were randomly assigned to receive CPOP or standard patrol. Analyses examine changes in crime the year before, during, and one year after the intervention. The authors used hierarchical Poisson regression models. They found no main effects for the CPOP intervention on property and violent crimes in either site. In site B, the violent crime count in low treatment hot spots was 200 percent higher than controls post-intervention but this likely reflected officers paying less attention to treatment locations with lower levels of crime. The authors’ results suggest that CPOP was not effective in the unusual context of the COVID-19 pandemic and post-George Floyd killing. Given the challenges of implementing CPOP during this unique time, caution is needed in interpreting these findings. (Published Abstract Provided)
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