The Effects of Hot Spot Policing on Violent Crime: Strategic Tactical Deployment in Joliet, Illinois

• In Event: New Findings from the Smart Policing Initiative 1

Abstract

This paper studies the impact of hot spot policing on violent crime in a mid-size American city.
The data for this research comes from the Joliet, Illinois Police Department’s Strategic Tactical Deployment (STD) program. The STD program is an intelligence-led policing program that combines a Compstat-type analysis of crime data and the subsequent assignment of extra patrol officers to the identified hot-spot areas. Data were gathered in the form of monthly counts for shots fired, robberies, and other violent crimes from January 2005 through September 2012. Ordinary least square regression was used to analyze the data. The findings are consistent with those of earlier researchers who found that hot-spot policing has can have a positive effect on violent crime.

Authors

• Robert Lombardo, Loyola University

• Christopher M. Donner, Loyola University Chicago