NCJ Number
102371
Date Published
1987
Length
7 pages
Annotation
The use of agencywide problem-oriented policing in Newport News, Va., has indicated that this approach is more effective in reducing crime than the traditional incident-response approach to policing.
Abstract
Rather than responding to calls for help or service as separate, individual events to be processed by traditional methods, problem-oriented policing emphasizes the analysis of groups of similar incidents to formulate an approach to the general problem underlying the series of incidents, using a variety of public and private resources. Five areas of research within the past two decades have fueled problem-oriented policing: guidance for the use of police discretion, the focus on crime causes, the professionalization of policing, an emphasis on police-community relations, and proof of the limited effectiveness of incident-response policing. The Newport News Police Department was involved in a National Institute of Justice pilot project that tested the effectiveness of agencywide problem-oriented policing. Some problems addressed in the course of the project were prostitution-related robberies, burglaries in an apartment complex, and thefts from vehicles in shipyard parking lots. By analyzing these problems and adopting a multifaceted approach to address them, the targeted crimes were significantly reduced. 3 figures and 13 footnotes.