NCJ Number
194043
Date Published
October 2002
Length
214 pages
Annotation
This summary report describes how Herman Goldstein's problem-oriented policing framework has been developed and, at times, distorted in the many efforts to make it a standard way of policing.
Abstract
In developing this report, the author drew upon his personal experience, reviewed relevant literature and problem-oriented policing project reports, visited selected police departments, attended conferences, and talked extensively with Herman Goldstein and others well-versed in problem-oriented policing. The report's introduction provides a brief history of the spread of problem-oriented policing. This is followed by a chapter that reviews the basic elements of problem-oriented policing. Topics addressed include how problems should be defined and described; what the police should focus on in problem-oriented policing; the search for underlying conditions, contributing factors, and causes; how the police should analyze problems and the effectiveness of current efforts; and how to evaluate the effectiveness of responses to problems. The second chapter discusses how to put problem-oriented policing and problem-solving in the context of the whole police mission. The third chapter then relates problem-oriented policing to other movements in police reform and crime prevention, notably, team policing, community policing, crime prevention through environmental design, situation crime prevention, crime analysis and Compstat, crime mapping, and zero tolerance. The concluding chapter considers major challenges to the advancement of problem-oriented policing. Attention is given to training, research, and practice and the defining of roles for others in practicing problem-oriented policing. 198 references and appended analysis of the best submissions for the Herman Goldstein Award for Excellence in Problem-Oriented Policing, 1993-1999, a partial list of problem-focused literature, and a summary of interviews