This updated systematic review assesses the effects of focused police crime prevention interventions at crime hot spots, and examined whether focused police actions at specific locations result in crime displacement or diffusion of crime control benefits.
Systematic review protocols and conventions of the Campbell Collaboration were followed to identify eligible hot spots policing studies, and meta-analytic techniques were used to assess the impact of hot spots policing on crime and investigate the influence of moderating variables. the extant evaluation research provides robust evidence that hot spots policing is an effective crime prevention strategy. Focused police intervention at hot spot locations does not seem to result in the spatial displacement of crime into areas immediately surrounding targeted locations. Rather, crime control benefits seem to diffuse into proximate areas. (Published abstract provided)