Research in Brief: What Works Best at Violent Crime Hot Spots? A Test of Directed Patrol and Problem-Solving Approaches in Jacksonville, Florida

Research in Brief

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Research in Brief: What Works Best at Violent Crime Hot Spots? A Test of Directed Patrol and Problem-Solving Approaches in Jacksonville, Florida

Christopher S. Koper, Associate Professor, Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy, Department of Criminology, Law and Society, George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia Bruce Taylor, Senior Fellow, National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago, Bethesda, Maryland Jamie Roush, Crime Analysis Unit Manager, Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, Jacksonville, Florida

Police interventions focused on “hot spots”—small geographic places or areas where crime is concentrated—have gained widespread acceptance as an effective approach to reducing crime. However, practitioners and researchers are still learning about what types of strategies and operational dosages work best for different types of hot spots. To address this issue, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office (JSO) teamed with outside researchers on a project to test the effectiveness of problem-oriented policing (POP) and directed saturation patrol at hot spots of violent crime.