This Campbell systematic review examines the impacts of police strategies to reduce illegal possession and carrying of firearms on gun crime. Examples include gun detection patrols in high-crime areas, enhanced surveillance of probationers and parolees, weapon reporting hotlines, consent searches, and other similar tactics.
Four studies met the inclusion criteria, reporting a total of seven non-randomized tests of directed patrols focused on gun carrying in three American cities (five tests) and two Colombian cities (two tests).
These studies suggest that directed patrols focused on illegal gun carrying prevent gun crimes. However, conclusions and generalizations must be qualified based on the small number of studies, variability in study design and analytic strategy across the studies, pre-intervention differences between intervention and comparison areas, and limited data regarding factors such as implementation, crime displacement, and long-term impact. There is also a strong need for rigorous study of other strategies to reduce illegal possession and carrying of firearms.
(Publisher abstract provided.)
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