Program Goals/Target Sites
A “broken windows” based hot spots policing approach is a disorder reduction tactic used by some law enforcement agencies in high crime neighborhoods. The strategy is based on the “broken windows” theory of crime, which suggests that crime is likely to flourish in areas with high levels of physical and social disorder. It entails the use of broken windows policing, also known as disorder policing or order maintenance policing, which focuses resources on small areas with high crime rates (hot spots) to produce a crime-reduction effect throughout the larger area. In California, this policing strategy was implemented in three midsized cities near Los Angeles. The intervention was based on the idea that, by reducing social and physical disorder, conditions will improve and crime and disorder will be reduced.
Program Activities
The approach was implemented in three midsized cities near the Los Angeles, California area. The strategy included using a broken windows policing approach across 55 street blocks identified as high crime areas (hot spots) in each city. These areas received an extra 3 hours of attention from police per week, in addition to the normal level of police presence.
Participating officers attended 1 day of training that encouraged them not to ignore any incidents of physical or social disorder within targeted areas. For first offenses, officers were told to use discretion in resolving problems, and give preference to police warnings and explanations about why some behaviors (such as public drinking or loitering) were not permissible. Specifically, officers were instructed to deal with social disorder via warnings, negotiations, and counseling as the first option. Common intervention activities included talking to a citizen, field interrogation, “stop and frisk,” advising/warning a citizen, issuing a citation, making an arrest, making a referral to another agency, and writing an incident report (Weisburd et al. 2012). Arrests or citations were to be used with recidivists or cases with aggravated circumstances.
To deal with physical disorder, officers were trained to report every instance of disorderly condition, such as graffiti or litter, to the appropriate city clean-up agencies, and follow up with those agencies if the problem was not dealt with in a timely manner.
Program Theory
The intervention in California was based on the broken windows theory, which argues that police can prevent crime by addressing disorderly neighborhood conditions, including both physical and social disorder (Wilson and Kelling 1982). Left untreated, such conditions can cause fear and withdrawal among community members. This, in turn, can lead to a decrease in informal social controls (or a perceived decrease by those inclined toward crime). According to the theory, disorder creates the conditions under which crime is allowed to thrive.
The intervention in California also included hot spots policing, which focuses on small geographic areas or places, usually in urban settings, where crime is concentrated (Braga et al. 2012). Hot spots policing is based on three related theoretical perspectives on spatial concentrations of crime: rational choice theory (Cornish and Clarke 1987), routine activities theory (Cohen and Felson 1979), and environmental criminology (Brantingham and Brantingham 1991). Hot spots policing allows law enforcement agencies to focus limited resources in areas where crime is most likely to occur. Concentrating limited resources on a small number of high-crime areas that generate a disproportionate share of crime is thought to represent a more efficient way to allocate resources than other less focused approaches.
Other Information
Critics of hot spots policing contend that it may generate backfire effects by negatively affecting residents’ fear of crime, collective efficacy, and police legitimacy, due to increased police presence and activity in targeted areas. Some critics argue that increased police presence may alter residents’ perceptions of crime in their neighborhood, ultimately increasing fear of crime and eroding police–community relations, which may threaten police legitimacy (Rosenbaum 2006; Weisburd and Braga 2003). Specifically, Rosenbaum (2006) notes that simply being labeled a “hot spot” may increase residents’ fear of crime, and that increased police presence may have residents feeling more like targets than partners with the police. Thus, the nature and style of policing within hot spots is thought to play an important role in how the community responds to having a heavier than usual police presence.
