Additional Resources

Boston Gun Violence Project & Operation Ceasefire: http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/criminaljustice/research/bgp.htm [Website with links/information]

Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experiment Police Foundation (n.d.) — http://www.policefoundation.org/docs/kansas.html

Kelling, G., Pate, T., Dieckman, D. & Brown, C.E. (1974) http://www.policefoundation.org/pdf/kcppe.pdf [PDF]

McGarrell, E., Chermak, S. and Weiss, A. (2002). Reducing gun violence: Evaluation of the Indianapolis Police Department’s directed patrol project. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, NIJ. [Full Text]

Metropolitan Police Authority. (2001). Operation Crackdown ( London)

Newark Foot Patrol Experiment Police Foundation (n.d.)

Sherman, L. and D. Rogan. (1995). “Effects of gun seizures on gun violence: “Hot spots” patrol in Kansas City.” Justice Quarterly, 12(4): 673-694.

Weisburd, D., Green, L., Gajewski, F., & Belluci, C. (January 1996). Policing drug hotspots. NIJ Research Preview. Washington, D.C.: National Institute of Justice.

Abstracts of publications that have appeared since this guide was written

The Impact of a Police Crackdown on a Street Drug Scene: Evidence From the Street. Aitken, C., D. Moore, P. Higgs, J. Kelsall, and M. Kerger (2002). International Journal of Drug Policy, 13(3):189-198.

This study documents the impact of a police crackdown on a street heroin market in a suburb of Melbourne, Australia, as perceived by individuals involved in the market. The initiative involved a deliberate focus on incoming traffic, passive deterrence through high visibility, and increased efforts to intercept buyers and sellers through a greater police presence. The effect of the operation is essentially superficial and temporary. While the crackdown achieves its objective of reducing the visible aspects of the street drug scene, the market rapidly adapts to its new conditions. Negative outcomes include the partial displacement of the drug scene to nearby metropolitan areas; the discouragement of safe injecting practice and safe needle and syringe disposal; and more frequent occurrences of violence and fraud. These outcomes appear to outweigh any perceived positive impacts, which are achieved at significant public expense. In line with long-standing Australian policy, the case is made for approaches that incorporate and balance demand reduction, supply reduction and harm reduction principles.

Reducing burglary by crackdown and consolidation. Millie, A. (2005). Policing, 28(1): 174-188.

This article examines whether a program of crackdown and consolidation could lead to measurable and sustainable reductions in domestic burglary through an evaluation of one project within the Home Office reducing burglary initiative, which was launched in England and Wales during 1998. In particular, the aim of the program was to crack down on known burglary recidivists, and then consolidate any gains by engaging the local community and implementing various prevention measures. The discussion considers the background to this project, the history of the method and how it was applied in this instance. The plausibility that this action led to reductions in offending is then examined.

Overall, the project did not follow its original plan of a continuous cycle of crackdown and consolidation. Nevertheless, the approach undoubtedly has the potential to work, although in this instance the consolidation served only to prolong the impact of the initial crackdown, rather than offer a sustainable solution. There are also financial and staffing implications of adopting a cycle of cycle of crackdown and consolidation, and the neighborhood must buy-in to the concepts of the program for it to be effective. Finally, this approach requires regular and accurate monitoring of burglary trends as an early warning system so that the start of any decay in impact can be spotted and acted upon by a re-application of the initial crackdown, which would then be followed by further consolidation work. However, this longer-term solution falls outside the usual bounds of developmental project funding.