Minneapolis Hot Spots Policing Experiment

Axios
Policing

Solution types
Hot Spots Policing

Problems addressed

Disorder and disturbance (or breach) of the peace

Effectiveness

Effective

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Life periods served

People of all ages

Where the program was applied

Community (streets or community centers)

Country of application

United States

Description

This is a program to increase police presence and intensive patrolling in areas with the highest incidence of crime – the hot spots – in order to reduce criminal activity at specific locations.

Minneapolis Police Department officers provided intensive patrol services to the city’s high-crime areas. The program focused on increasing police presence in crime “hot spots,” rather than the specific activities conducted by officers during patrols.

The implementation of the strategy depended on the cooperation of the entire police force; which was facilitated through briefings, pizza parties, and the distribution of T-shirts with the program’s logo.

Impact evaluations

Evidence An impact assessment showed that the program produced a statistically significant reduction in citizen calls to the police and in disorderly crime, compared to hot spots that did not receive the intervention [1].

Another impact assessment showed that, in general, there was no reduction in police calls from commercial or residential addresses. Statistically significant reductions were only found for residential addresses that required and received lower levels of officer effort (i.e., less problematic locations) [2].

Bibliographic reference

[1] Sherman, L. W. & Weisburd, D. (1995). General deterrent effects of police patrol in crime “hot spots”: A randomized, controlled trial. Justice Quarterly, 12(4), 625–648. https://doi.org/10.1080/07418829500096221

[2] Buerger, M. E. (1993). Convincing the recalcitrant: Reexamining the Minneapolis RECAP experiment (Doctoral dissertation, Rutgers The State University of New Jersey-Newark).

Information source