Police Crackdowns

The results of the study data found that the strategy of hot spot identification and targeting caused a lasting reduction of crime and disorder behaviors within the target areas. Vehicle patrols within the target areas were found to cause a residual deterrent effect but research data showed that the duration at which officers need to stay within the hot spot area in order to have a greater residual effect is approximately 10 minutes. Further, the optimal time frame for officers to stay within the target area is 10 to 14 minutes. Continued officer presence within the hot spot area after 14 minutes has a diminished effect (Koper, 1995). In addition, the strategy of intensified patrols was found to reduce total police calls for service within

Another police strategy similar in nature to that of hotspot policing is the police crackdown. Police crackdowns are “sudden increases in officer presence, sanctions, and threats of apprehension either for specific offenses or for all offenses in specific places” (Sherman, 1990, p. 1). Police crackdowns became popular in the 1980’s and have been used to combat crimes such as impaired driving, domestic battery, drug sales, prostitution, traffic offenses and various other criminal activity (Sherman, 1990). Crackdowns typically have three elements: presence, sanctions, and media threats. Presence is the increase of police personnel in either places or situations where crime is taking place. A sanction is any type of imposition placed upon an offender by law enforcement. This could include traffic stops, arrests, DUI checkpoints, or other actions taken against violators. The final element is a media threat. Media threats are public announcements by law enforcement that describe increases in police activity that is or is about to take place (Sherman,

The study took place between 1991 and 1992. The research found similar results to Sherman’s review discussed above. The Kansas City study found that an initial modest deterrence in both calls for service and crime reports was observed in the surrounding area but that decay quickly followed. While the police raids on the crack houses showed a response by police to the problem, the high cost of these types of actions question the response given the lack of sustained benefit (Sherman & Rogan, 1995). Sherman’s review of the crackdown case studies showed mixed results on the duration of residual benefits of crackdowns. While most showed an initial deterrent effect, some showed a quick decay of benefits while others showed a longer duration of deterrence. Based on these results, an effective strategy for crackdown operations may be to use crackdowns for limited durations but move the target locations frequently (Sherman,