Problem-Oriented Policing: Successful Case Studies (Crime Science Series)

Problem-Oriented Policing: Successful Case Studies is the first systematic and rigorous collection of effective problem-oriented policing projects. It includes more than twenty case studies from among the thousands of projects submitted for the Herman Goldstein Award for Excellence in Problem-Oriented Policing. The volume describes in detail the case studies and explains the wider significance of each for effective, efficient, and equitable policing.

This book explores a wide range of problems that fall under five general categories: gang violence; violence against women; vulnerable people; disorderly places; and theft, robbery, and burglary. The case studies tell stories of how police, in collaboration with others, successfully tackled real-world policing problems fairly and effectively. The authors have also drawn out of the case studies the cross-cutting themes and issues they illustrate. The authors prove that the concept can work, bring to life the context in which police and communities addressed these vexing problems, and, ideally, will inspire future problem-oriented police work that builds on these reported successes.

Written in a clear and direct style, this book will appeal to students and scholars of policing, criminology, and social studies; police practitioners and crime analysts; and all those who are interested in learning more about the reality of police problem-solving.

Michael Scott is clinical professor at Arizona State University’s School of Criminology & Criminal Justice and director of the Center for Problem-Oriented Policing, which produces and disseminates information about how police can effectively and fairly address specific public-safety problems. He was formerly a clinical professor at the University of Wisconsin Law School; chief of police in Lauderhill, Florida; special assistant to the chief of the St. Louis, Missouri, Metropolitan Police Department; director of administration of the Fort Pierce, Florida, Police Department; a senior researcher at the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) in Washington, D.C.; legal assistant to the police commissioner of the New York City Police Department; and a police officer in the Madison, Wisconsin, Police Department. In 1996, he received PERF's Gary P. Hayes Award for innovation and leadership in policing.

Ronald V. Clarke is university professor at the Rutgers School of Criminal Justice and associate director of the Center for Problem-Oriented Policing. Before coming to the United States, he worked for fifteen years in the British government’s criminological research department, the Home Office Research and Planning Unit. While there, he led the team that originated situational crime prevention and is now considered to be the leading authority on that approach. In 2015, he was awarded the Stockholm Prize in Criminology. His current research focuses on wildlife crimes.