Problem-Oriented Evaluation? Evaluating Problem-Oriented Policing Initiatives (From Crime Reduction and Problem-Oriented Policing, P 183-216, 2003, Karen Bullock and Nick Tilley, eds. -- See NCJ-204054)

• NCJ Number: 204060
• Author(s): Mario Matassa; Tim Newburn
• Date Published: 2003
• Length: 34 pages
• Sale Source: Willan Publishing
• Publication Format: Book (Hardbound)
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This examination of separate but related evaluations of three British problem-oriented policing initiatives designed to counter hate crime focuses on the role of the evaluator in relation to problem-oriented policing (POP) initiatives.

Abstract

The tactics and interventions used in the anti-hate crime initiatives varied significantly across and within programs and between the three sites. All the projects were delivered within a partnership framework. The emphases of the programs varied, but a number of common themes emerged. These included enforcement, education and awareness-raising, victim support, community development and (potential) offender identification, deterrence, and rehabilitation. The independent evaluations of these projects experienced the five major obstacles to the evaluation of multiagency crime partnerships identified by Rosenbaum (2002). These are the complexity of interventions; the complexity of contextual variables; the dynamic, changing nature of interventions; the diversity of intervention processes and outcomes; and the lack of optimal conditions for traditional experimental research. This chapter, however, focuses on a sixth obstacle, i.e., evaluation implementation failure and its variant implementation breakdown. In evaluating various Home Office-sponsored projects, priority has been given to an independent evaluation by researchers who have had no connection to the project. Although the aim of achieving an objective evaluation is laudable, it is impractical to exclude evaluators from project planning and design, particularly in the case of complex problem-oriented policing projects. For these projects, it is important that evaluators be involved in the development of the project itself, otherwise evaluation measures may be difficult if not impossible to identify and quantify. The professionalism of evaluators should make it possible for them to be involved in project planning and implementation and still be objective in assessing the project's implementation process and outcomes. 5 notes and 40 references