NCJ Number
192435
Date Published
December 2001
Length
68 pages
Annotation
This report describes how the winner and finalists of the Police Executive Research Forum's (PERF's) 2001 Herman Goldstein Awards used problem-oriented policing and the SARA model to address community problems.
Abstract
The award recognizes outstanding police officers and police agencies, both in the United States and around the world, that engage in innovative and effective problem-solving efforts and achieve measurable success in reducing specific crime, disorder, and public safety problems faced by the police and the community. The most commonly used process for addressing recurring problems, -- known as SARA (scanning, analysis, response, and assessment) -- originated from the problem-oriented policing project in Newport News, Virginia. This model has become the basis for many police agencies' training curricula and problem-solving efforts. The judges selected the California Highway Patrol as the winner of the 2001 award for its strategy to reduce injuries and fatalities along a busy highway corridor, which had experienced 48 fatalities in the 3 years preceding the project. A task force's comprehensive analysis yielded a response plan that included enhanced enforcement of traffic laws and increased fines; no-passing zones, shoulder, and sign improvements; and installation of roadside call boxes, jurisdictional modifications to facilitate emergency assistance, and increased public awareness. The Corridor Safety Program has decreased the rate of fatal collisions and saved an estimated 21 lives in the first year of its implementation. Other finalists whose projects are described are the Buffalo Police Department, which addressed police prostitution; the Chula Vista Police Department, which focused on reducing residential burglary; the Rogers County Sheriff's Office, which targeted the market for stolen goods; the Salt Lake City Police Department, which focused on false alarms; and the South Euclid Police Department, which mounted a school bullying project. Figures accompany project descriptions.