Newark and Philadelphia Policy Review

This policy analysis will review the programs that the cities of Newark and Philadelphia implemented and why these issues are important. The analysis will also examine the programs each city created to address the violence in the specific urban areas of their city and the impacts the programs have had to date. The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of police foot patrol as a means of deterrence through apprehension and as a means of risk reduction, community and problem oriented policing, high crime neighborhood hot spots, and violence prevention. This will be done through the examination of the Newark, NJ and Philadelphia, PA foot patrol experiments.

The Philadelphia and Newark foot patrol experiments were both determined to be a success in the target area, because they both were able to deter crime. The Philadelphia experiment prevented 90 violent crimes around the target area (Ratcliffe et al. 2011). The operation Impact experiment did not experience a positive or negative effect .The errors encountered in the Newark study are the reasons why the Philadelphia experiment was more successful, because they focused on the objectives the Newark, New Jersey experiment was unable to complete and gain positive results on deterring crime in the targeted area.

This policy analysis will discuss the following topics: the problem, Policy development, Policy Effectiveness, Conclusion Alternatives, Cost & Benefits, and Recommendations.

Problem

Recognizing the significance of the problem, the cities developed the Operation Impact & Philadelphia Foot Patrol project, to address the issue of deterrence, public safety, and restoring neighborhoods to a safe environment for kids and the elderly to live. The co...

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... officers are seen often in the areas and utilize random beat times; analyze how other cities faced with deterrence issues overcame them and what methods they used to achieve success. Researchers must note that one city cannot duplicate another exactly; researchers should only borrow ideas and implement them to how they will be successful in their study. An idea that works in Los Angles won’t necessarily work in Boston, but with few modifications gives the study a greater chance of success.

Works Cited

Ratcliffe, J H, Taniguchi, T, Groff, E R, et al. (2011). “The Philadelphia Foot Patrol Experiment: A Randomized Controlled Trial of Police Patrol Effectiveness in Violent Crime Hotspots.” Criminology, 49(3), 795-831.

Piza, Eric L., and Brian A. O’Hara. 2012. “Saturation Foot-Patrol in a High-Violence Area: A Quasi-Experimental Evaluation.” Justice Quarterly 1–26.