Hot Spots & Place-Based Policing
Introduction
Crime is often highly concentrated in certain “hot spots.” Instead of policing all spaces with the same intensity, place-based policing interventions focus crime prevention efforts on such hot spots. Sometimes such interventions re-allocate traditional policing efforts like street patrols or traffic spots. In other cases, interventions take the form of “problem-oriented” policing programs that attempt to change the underlying conditions deemed responsible for the concentration of crime in each place. A recent meta-analysis of 65 studies finds that hot spots policing causes a small reduction in crime at the hotspot as well as in neighboring areas. However, only 4 out of the 65 studies included in the meta-analysis took place in Global South countries. Findings from the developing world are much less clear-cut. While some studies do find that increased police presence reduces crime at the hot spot, others show that such effects are limited to certain kinds of crime (e.g., car thefts in a study in Medellín, Colombia) or modest in size. Another study in Colombia finds that instead of reducing crime in neighboring areas, increased police patrols in hot spots can displace crimes to areas that surround the hot spot. A study in India compares a policing strategy that concentrates traffic stops in certain streets to one that randomly allocated checkpoints across a set of streets. The evidence suggests that randomly allocated checkpoints are more effective in terms of accident prevention. The authors attribute this finding to the strategic response of drivers who learn about the location of checkpoints.
Resources
Papers
Are there studies we are missing? Share them with us by writing to maxmendezbeck@berkeley.edu!
“The Efficient Deployment of Police Resources: Theory and New Evidence from a Randomized Drunk Driving Crackdown in India” by Abhijit Banerjee, Esther Duflo, Daniel Keniston, and Nina Singh (Pre-analysis plan, Study summary)
“Place-Based Interventions at Scale: The Direct and Spillover Effects of Policing and City Services on Crime” by Christopher Blattman, Donald P. Green, Daniel Ortega, and Santiago Tobón (Pre-analysis plan, Ungated version, Study summary)
“Hot spots policing and crime reduction: an update of an ongoing systematic review and meta-analysis” by Anthony A. Braga, Brandon S. Turchan, Andrew V. Papachristos, and David M. Hureau
“Hot spots policing in a high crime environment: An experimental evaluation in Medellín” by Daniela Collazos, Eduardo García, Daniel Mejía, Daniel Ortega, and Santiago Tobón (Ungated version)
“Police Reform, Training and Crime: Experimental Evidence from Colombia’s Plan Cuadrantes” by Juan Garcia, Daniel Mejía, and Daniel Ortega
“Do police reduce crime? Estimates using the allocation of police forces after a terrorist attack” by Rafael Di Tella and Ernesto Schargrodsky (Ungated version)
“Deterring delinquents with information. Evidence from a randomized poster campaign in Bogotá” by Enzo Nussio and Ervyn Norza Céspedes (Replication data)