Risk-focused Policing at Places: An Experimental Evaluation
Risk-focused Policing at Places: An Experimental Evaluation
Article Type: Perspectives on policing From: Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, Volume 31, Issue 3
David Weisburd, Nancy A. Morris and Justin ReadyJustice QuarterlyVol. 25 No. 12008pp. 163-200
Recent theoretical and empirical research has provided support for crime prevention interventions that focus on place-based policing and developmental criminology. To that end, Weisburd et al. (2008) evaluated the effectiveness of risk-focused policing at places (RFPP) in Redlands, California– an innovative police approach that is dually focused on place-based policing and risk and protective factors related to juvenile delinquency.
The RFPP strategy represents an integration of positive findings from recent crime prevention and delinquency research into a single innovative policing approach. Regarding the crime prevention component of RFPP, volumes of research have shown the importance of the “criminology of place”. According to Weisburd et al. (2008), recent research has shown that evidence of police effectiveness is strongest for place-based policing that focuses on crime hot spots.
Additionally, research on crime and the life-course has shown that several individual-level risk and protective factors affect a juvenile’s likelihood of engaging in delinquent behavior. For instance, parental anti-social behavior is a risk factor that is associated with juvenile delinquency while protective factors like religiosity and morality have been shown to buffer the criminogenic effects of risk factors. Prevention strategies built upon the developmental approach move beyond deterrence and rehabilitation by identifying early risk factors in an attempt to prevent the onset of delinquency.
Building from both of these literatures, the Redlands RFPP was developed and implemented as a “data-driven, community-oriented policing and problem-solving strategy which focused on factors that place youth most at risk for delinquency and other problem behaviors” (Weisburd et al.,2008, pp. 169-70). Specifically, the Redlands RFPP sought to identify problem places where the risk factors for the onset of delinquency are particularly high. In this case, the Redlands Police Department defined problem areas in terms of Census block groups and used the Communities that Care survey (CTC) to identify block groups that have high risk factor scores across various domains:school, family, community, and peer/individual.
Once problem places are identified, the RFPP strategy draws from multiple styles of policing to prevent and reduce juvenile delinquency. For instance, the CTC survey was used to identify domains of risk at certain blocks. Consistent with problem-oriented policing, the Redlands Police Department then used this information to tailor focused interventions to address these specific risk factors at these locations. Furthermore, consistent with community-oriented policing, the RFPP strategy also emphasizes positive interactions with the police and the implementation of interventions that target community enhancement and pro-social adolescent development.
Weisburd et al. (2008) used a matched block experimental design to evaluate the Redlands RFPP strategy. Overall, the CTC survey identified 26 block groups that met the Redlands Police Department’s threshold of 0.50 in one or more risk domains. These 26 block groups were then matched into 13 pairs based on Census data, CTC survey findings, and police calls for service. Finally, census block groups from each pair were randomly assigned as either a treatment or control block.
Treatment block groups received various interventions that targeted the risk domains that had the highest risk factor score for delinquency based on the CTC survey. In all, 177 interventions were administered to experimental block groups. The majority of interventions (82 per cent) were designed to target multiple risk factors with most focusing on community and school risk factors. The total number of interventions per block group ranged from a minimum of two to a maximum of 32 while the average number of interventions was 13. Control block groups received standard police patrol since interest is in the effectiveness of the RFPP strategy over traditional police practices.
Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) showed that the Redlands RFPP program had little impact on students’ perceptions of risk and protective factors. Specifically, membership in an experimental block did not significantly affect the majority of risk or protective factors related to the community (perceived community disorganization, perceived availability of drugs, etc.), family (poor family supervision, family attachment, parental attitudes favorable to drug use or misconduct, etc.), school (academic failure, low commitment to school, etc.),or peers and individuals (rebelliousness, interaction with delinquents,sensation seeking, etc.).
Results also indicated that treatment had null effects on self-reported perceptions of procedural justice. This finding, however, likely reflects the lack of variability in attitudes among students since the majority had positive attitudes toward the Redlands Police Department. Finally, treatment did not produce significant effects on self-reported delinquency or drug and alcohol use. Unexpectedly, however, students within treatment blocks were significantly more likely to report being arrested in the past year.
In sum, the introduction of the RFPP program in Redlands did not produce the crime prevention benefits that prior research and theory would expect. In turn,Weisburd et al. (2008) argued that the lack of a program effect is likely an artifact of methodology – primarily the program’s unit of analysis. Specifically, they argued that Census block groups are substantially larger than other geographic units where placed-based policing had previously been effective(i.e. street blocks, specific addresses, etc.). It is likely that the RFPP program was implemented at a level of geography that was too large for developing the highly focused interventions needed to produce strong crime-prevention outcomes. In short, though called “place-based”, the intervention may be more appropriately viewed a variant of the “neighborhood-based”intervention tradition.
Justin A. Heinonen MS
