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Problem-Oriented Policing (POP) is an approach to police work that emphasizes community organizing and addressing initial causes of crime and disorder, rather than aggressively pursuing arrests over any infraction. It is closely related to non-arrest decision-making and reasoning by officers. While the overall effect of POP policies seems to be positive, few in-depth studies on the subject have been done that would allow to draw solid conclusions. This essay will examine two studies on the subject and discuss their results.
Effectiveness Study
Problem-Oriented Policing has been introduced in the US since the 1980s, with various results. The 2010 Campbell systematic review by Weisburd et al. (2010), in an attempt to measure those results, noted an overall modest but statistically significant impact of POP on crime and disorder (p. 139). They also point out that, of over 5500 articles and reports found, only ten were methodologically rigorous enough to meet their inclusion criteria (Weisburd et. al., 2010, p. 139). This points to the difficulty of accurately measuring the effect of POP in any given case and dissociating it from other factors such as crime rate changing due to unaccounted factors or simply over time.
While most studies listed show at least some positive effect, negative impact has also been found in two studies. In both cases, it is linked to implementation difficulties such as scheduling issues, lack of support and training, or under-staffing (Weisburd et al., 2010, p. 158). It is unclear, however, if poorly-implemented POP programs accelerated the natural deterioration, or failed to prevent it. In any case, this suggests that POP faces unique difficulties in implementation, particularly since they need to be custom-tailored to the particular area where they are deployed.
Non-arrest reasoning
POP focuses on officers engaging with the community to deter crime and disorderly conduct. Police may choose to resolve encounters with suspects informally, without resorting to an arrest even when there is sufficient evidence for it. In general, the study by Terrill and Paoline (2007) recorded 2472 encounters in two cities with vastly different approaches to policing. Even in cases with sufficient evidence, only 27.2% ended in arrests regardless of the amount of said evidence (Terrill and Paoline, 2007, p. 317). In most non-arrest cases, officer responses ranged from threatening arrest to mediating the issue, providing information, or simply doing nothing. The reasoning for these actions varies on a case-by-case basis, but commonly cited reasons were uncertainty that the incident was illegal to begin with, or personal judgment calls on the effectiveness of an arrest (Terril & Paoline, 2007). There had been little research into the subject before the study; therefore, the data presented is limited.
The factors going into non-arrest decisions include where (the more aggressive Indianapolis compared to the more community-oriented St. Petersburg) the encounter took place, pointing to the difference in policy (Terril & Paoline, 2007. Other factors, once again, point to the importance of an officers personal decision a respectful manner and lack of resistance were linked with a lower probability of an arrest. Finally, officers were also more likely to make an arrest when responding to a call, compared to situations when they were intervening of their own initiative. One possible explanation of the last fact is that the officers in question strove to fulfill societal expectations.
Conclusion
POP is a widely-used approach, and while studies generally point to its effectiveness in reducing crime and disorder, the specific impact is minor in most cases, and difficult to measure and compare between implementations. This decrease, however, can be attributed to a number of other factors not related to policy. Arrests were less common in areas utilizing such methods, with a variety of other options available to officers.
References
- Terrill, W., & Paoline, E. A. (2007). Nonarrest decision making in policecitizen encounters. Police Quarterly, 10(3), 308331.
- Weisburd, D., Telep, C., Hinkle, J., & Eck, J (2015). Is problem-oriented policing effective in reducing crime and disorder? Findings from a Campbell systematic review. Criminology & Public Policy, 9 (1), pp. 139-172.
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