What Is Meant By Problem Oriented Policing

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

Over the past 30 years or so, society has become frustrated with constant recurring crimes and has looked to our police departments to deal with this issue effectively (Braga, 2008). Spelman & Eck (1987) suggested that rather than treating an emergency call as a single event to be dealt with, and then go onto the next incident, the police force should find patterns in the cycle and attempt to eliminate the problem from its source. In order to do this, the police must collect information about incidents and propose a response scheme based upon the type of ‘underlying conditions that cause the problems’ (Goldstein, 1991). Goldstein is a scholar within crime and policing and the application of his proposals have led to encouraging strategies within policing that could reduce crime. This strategy in particular has led to the creation of Problem-Oriented Policing (POP).

Before beginning to discuss the notion of problem-oriented policing, there seems a need to distinguish the differences, if there are any, between Problem Oriented Policing and community policing. To start with, one important scholar of policing, Skolnick (1998)believed that problem-oriented as an approach, works as a substitute to incident driven traditional policing, and was derived from ideas of the proactive attitudes of community-oriented policing. While others point out that Problem Oriented Policing and COP have been applied interchangeably which shows that Problem Oriented Policing can be effectively applied without the use of Community Oriented Policing (Ozeren, 2001).

POP gives emphasis to the significance of using assessment and analysis to tackle crime and disorder problems (US Department of Justice, 2013). It offers a complex approach to solving recurring problems and avoiding new problems. It also offers a ‘pro-active’ strategy and has become more and more effective in the UK (Leigh, et al., 1996)

Gaining a true assessment of the problem is one of the key components of POP. If a response to a problem does not work, then returning to the analysis may produce a new component that may have more influence than the previous one (Home Office, 2003).The main key component of POP is the use of Scanning, Analysis, Response and Assessment (SARA) in order to start the problem solving process (US Department of Justice, 2013). The Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) (2012) explain the SARA technique. The Scanning involves the identification of recurring problems that concern not only the police but the public also. Consequences of the problem must be identified and then these problems must be prioritized by developing clear goals. Scanning will confirm that the problems do in fact exist and will determine how often the problem occurs and for how long it has been an unresolved problem. In doing this, the police will be able to select the problems which need targeting first and make a closer examination of them. Analysis implicates the identification and understanding of the events and conditions that lead to and are associated with the problem at hand. It aims to identify the most relevant data to be collected and enables the police to research what we already know about the problem. This will show the strengths and weaknesses of how the problem is currently being responded too. Analysing the problem with inevitably devise a working hypothesis around why the problem is there in the first place. Response after analysis can start by devising new ideas and ways of intervening, and then selecting the most promising intervention. An outline of a response plan is then drawn up and responsible parties are identified. The plans are then carried out and police can await the assessment phase. Assessment of the response is the most important as it will determine whether the goals of the strategy were attained. Pre and post-response data will be collected using both qualitative and quantitative data. Then if needed, new strategies can be identified to augment the initial plan. Assessments will continue to ensure the effectiveness of the response. This plan of action is one that may "reduce the number of incidents from occurring or reduce the harm resulting from those incidents" (COPS, 2012).However a weakness of SARA is that because the data collected is community biased, scanning and analysis of the data may or may not be accurate and there is no easy way to test this.

While the SARA model is helpful as a way of organizing the approach to recurring issues, it is often very hard to figure out exactly what the actual issue is. The Problem Analysis Triangle (PAT) proposes another aim whereby police can efficiently examine the problematic crimes and improve solutions that eliminate opportunities for these crimes to take place (US Department of Justice, 2013).

The Problem Analysis Triangle offers a way of thinking about recurring issues of crime and disorder. This idea adopts that crime or disorder has 3 sides, quite like a triangle, it proposes that crime occurs when assuming that the first side of the triangle represents the likely offenders and the second side the suitable targets, they then come together and link to the third side, which would be, the place where the crime take place. In addition all three components must meet in time and space to formulate the necessary "chemistry" for a crime to occur (Felson, 1998). This theory does not take into account the presence of capable guardians as they are not always present, therefore this simple model of a problem analysis triangle will look like this:

(COPS, 2012)

This more complex and technically ‘complete’ problem analysis triangle will include 3 more categories, giving the triangle a second layer. This is because

Criminals can sometimes be manipulated by other people; these people are called ‘handlers’. Targets or victims can occasionally be protected by the presence of other people; these people are referred to as ‘guardians’. Places are commonly controlled by someone or a group of people, these people are referred to as ‘managers’.

Therefore, efficient problem-solving needs an understanding of how offenders and their targets or victims come together in time and space places, and identifying how these offenders, targets or victims, and places are not efficiently guarded. Identifying the flaws in the problem analysis triangle in the context of a specific issue will lead to ideas about different interventions that will be available. This complete and complex triangle will look like this:

(COPS, 2012)

The problem analysis triangle is a useful tool for the police to use successively to improve their understanding of a problem (Leigh, et al., 1996). It allows problems to be understood in many ways as no one way is conclusive (COPS, 2012).

Problem-Oriented Policing offers the hypotheses that "the more accurately police can identify and minimize immediate causes of patterns of crime, the less crime there will be" (Sherman, 1993). In order to test this hypothesis scientifically, crime has to be first measured. However, the measurement of crime can be problematic due to the large amount of types of crime and the fact that unfortunately not all crimes are recorded. Therefore measuring how effective prevention methods are is also just as difficult. Only a few studies have successfully produced strong scientific evidence about the hypothesis that problem orientated police offers (Sherman, 1994). Adams (1996) based a study on reducing youth crime, he proposed that "the more police can reduce the intersection of motivated offenders in time and space with suitable targets of crime, the less crime there will be." (Adams, 1996) However, he found that there was no reduction in crime by setting curfews for the most likely offenders which in this case were youths. Another hypothesis proposed by Kennedy et al. (1996) is that "The more police can remove guns from public places or deter people from carrying them in the micro-environments of criminal events, the fewer crimes there will be" (Kennedy, et al., 1996) through better knowledge and application of search procedures Kennedy found that the reduction of gun carrying significantly reduced gun crime.

Problem oriented policing has massive benefits towards the community. It promotes more involvement in the issues of public safety, and in turn, reduces the feelings of fear and increases the feelings of safety. With a good application of POP, there is a great possibility that more people will have a positive perception of the police. POP also benefits most police agencies as it encourages more participation from police agencies working together (Leigh, et al., 1996).

It is worth looking at the benefits of POP towards the actual officers that execute the POP plan. POP may give the officers more satisfaction from feeling that they are making a difference. It opens up opportunities for police officers to share their individual ideas about responses to crimes (Greene & Mastrofski, 1988). This may increase their sense of ability and self-esteem, enabling the officers to perform better in their jobs.

While in the UK, POP seems to be a successful start to understanding and reducing crime; In Australia, Brown and Sutton (1997) carried out a study to test the application of the problem-oriented approach within the ‘Victoria Police Drug Squad’. The main aim of the study was for the drug squad to identify, retrieve and organize data to aid the development of a broad image of what the problems concerning drug use were and to urge a broader array of responses. Regrettably, Brown and Sutton found that the strategic problem-oriented approach, in this case, failed to reduce drug crime in the area. Brown and Sutton recognized this to be down to the organisational structure that their police forces were used to.

A case study from Queensland invites the idea of applying POP to help prevent the occurrence of drink- spiking and allegations of sexual assault in and around nightclubs. It was hoped that the findings of this study would push the police into exploring the option of testing drink-testing tools, however, apparently, there was not much interest shown by possible partners needed in order to implement this. Nightclub owners and agencies did not seem to show interest in working with the police and as a result, this option was not explored. (Queensland Police Service, 2002) However, with more time allocated to public awareness, this project could be an option in the future.

Although the concept of Problem Oriented Policing has been around for so long; so far, most applications of POP have taken place within general areas of crime or used to prevent minor crimes. The application of POP within a criminal investigation environment is less familiar to our society. This may be because criminal investigation has largely been seen as re-active rather than pro-active, in the sense that reactive means solving the crimes and problems that have already happened (Forst, 1998). Further research into using POP to prevent larger but less common crimes should be considered (Hoffmann, et al., 2005). Cordner & Biebel (2005) offers the explanation that despite so many years of national promotion along with a combined effort at application within various police departments, it may be irrational to suppose that every police officer is able to fully engross themselves in the long winded practice of problem oriented policing. This may be a reason why the practical side of POP seems to be failing.

Problem oriented policing can affect police agencies work massively, by putting emphasis on POP; all other styles of policing are given the back seat. By prioritizing a style of policing that isn’t proven to show successful results yet, is a massive waste of time and money. Ozeren (2001) believed that although the eventual objective of the police should definitely be proactive policing, to prevent time wasting and keep costs down for now, police should practice, but no focus completely on, reactive policing by investigating crimes and arresting criminals.

From the evidence and arguments made, we can justify that the police force currently fails to provide an organized and significant amount of knowledge about the effectiveness of methods for "addressing common community problems" (Scott, 2000). By the collection and maintenance of past research and POP reports, future police officers will have the past knowledge of current or recurring problems that have attempted to be tackled previously. This will improve the knowledge of the application of problem oriented policing in future (O'Connor & Grant, 1998). This way the police have more time to respond to problems rather than going through the whole analytical process again. They will also know more about the problem at hand therefore the main cause of the problems are solved, this hopefully will result it in problem no long recurring, or at least, not as often.

Rachel Boba (2003) rightly states that if problem oriented policing is going to be incorporated successfully in a police department, it would benefit them greatly they had access to academics and their knowledge, acting as mentors to the police force so they can successfully conduct research themselves. Currently, academics conduct research and publish the results. Boba believes that the police need to understand the skills and knowledge, to be able to replicate and improve the findings themselves.

It was also argued that problem oriented policing focuses on the minor issues and crimes, so consequently overlooks that this theory may be applied to other major problems. However, against this point, it could be said that without focus on minor crimes, the problems will inevitably fuel more serious crimes to be committed within society (Clarke, 1997).The majority of evidence supplied is theory based so therefore may be difficult for practitioners to learn from. Because of all of the variances and gaps in the knowledge of problem oriented policing as a learning method, researchers could carry out more research that is related to police practitioners rather than theorists. This may also lead to the police force reading more published works in order to gain understanding about their jobs at hand (Scott, 2000). Problem oriented policing has succeeded in an amount of professional and theoretical interest and to some degree; it has gained the attention of the public and of politicians. However, as Scott (2000) states "The development of problem-oriented policing is far from complete"