Proactive Policing: Effects on Crime and Communities

• NCJ Number: 251358
• Date Published: 2017
• Length: 324 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2016-IJ-CX-0001
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical); Legislation/Policy Analysis; Issue Overview
• Award: The National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine requests support from NIJ for the completion of the ongoing study on Proactive Policing: Effects of Crime, Communities, and Civil Liberties.

Annotation

This report provides a comprehensive evaluation of proactive policing, including its crime-prevention impacts and its broader implications for justice and U.S. communities.

Abstract

This report uses the term "proactive policing" to refer to "all policing strategies that have as one of their goals the prevention or reduction of crime and disorder and that are not reactive in terms of focusing primarily on uncovering ongoing crime or on investigating or responding to crimes once they have occurred." Currently, proactive policing strategies are widely used in the United States. The report discusses the data and methodological gaps regarding the effects of various forms of proactive policing on crime, whether they are applied in a discriminatory manner, whether they comply with legal parameters, and how communities react.