Hot Spots Policing - NIJ Research for the Real World Seminar

• NCJ Number: 234700
• Author(s): Mary Lou Leary; David Weisburd
• Date Published: October 2009
• Length: 16 pages
• Agencies: NIJ
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical); Report (Study/Research); Interview; Conference Material

Annotation

This is the video and transcript of an interview with David Weisburd as part of the Real World Seminar regarding issues in his research on allocating police resources to "hot spots," i.e., places that crime mapping and crime analysis show to have crime concentrations.

Abstract

Weiburd emphasizes that place-based policing relies less on the characteristics of individuals that are related to their criminal behavior than upon the characteristics of small areas that facilitate opportunities for the commission of various types of crime. The police then work with members of the community in developing strategies that address crime-related factors associated with the defined area. Weisburd emphasizes that police strategies in place-based policing should not involve the police becoming an occupying force in the community. Police-community relations is advanced by working with community leaders in interpreting data and developing strategies to address community-based crime factors through crime prevention and mitigation. In discussing research on displacement of crime to adjacent areas, Weisburd notes that not only was there no evidence of displacement, there was evidence that crime also decreased in areas adjacent to the "hot spots." Possible reasons for this are discussed. Among the types of crimes discussed in place-based policing are street prostitution and street drug sales.