Institutionalizing Place-Based Approaches: Structural and Cultural Changes in the Adoption of a Case of Place Approach

• In Event: Crime Prevention and the Police Organization

Abstract

Place-based policing strategies, such as hot spot policing, are flourishing among police departments as technology and geographic information systems improve. Research shows that place-based policing strategies can prevent crime without displacing it to other areas (e.g. Sherman & Eck, 2002; Lum et al., 2011; Braga et al., 2012). However, the adoption of place-based policing practices still faces challenges, such as loosely defined hot spots, implementation shortcomings, and a dearth of problem-oriented policing practices. The case of place approach directs patrol officers, crime analysts and detectives to collaborate on investigating problem locations to implement tailored interventions (Koper, Egge, & Lum, 2015). The “case of place” approach may help to eliminate problems associated with implementing and managing problem solving on the street through the use of case management techniques often utilized by investigative units.
This paper will review the adoption of a case of place approach by patrol as a primary change effort within a police department’s reorganization. The analyses will assess how these structural and cultural changes have affected the functions of the department through the adoption of the case of place approach. Implications for the case of place approach and place-based strategies will be discussed.

Authors

• Elias Nader, University of Massachusetts Lowell

• Brenda J. Bond, Suffolk University