Chasing Ghosts?: Police Perception of High Crime Areas

Abstract

In recent years there has been a move within police services towards a proactive and intelligence-led style of policing. This has coincided with a recognition of the value of local policing solutions and the importance of the intelligence function at the local area command level. This paper uses a combination of hotspot analysis within a geographical information system (GIS), a hotspot perception survey of police officers, and small focus groups to assess the intelligence dissemination process for high volume crime on three Nottinghamshire subdivisions. The results indicate a variable result depending on crime type explored and the study has implications for the dissemination of high volume crime intelligence within police services. There has been a recent move both within British policing and beyond towards a more decentralized, proactive style of policing. This has shifted the emphasis for intelligence analysis and dissemination on to officers and analysts at the local area command level. The intelligence officer at a divisional station is now expected to be the hub of the local intelligence gathering effort with responsibility for the timely and accurate passage of information in a variety of directions around the service. A number of recent reports and publications have emphasized the limitations of routine patrolling and the importance of accurately targeted policework based on a problem solving ethos (HMIC 1997; Leigh et al. 1996; Maguire and John 1995; Woodhouse 1997). A repeating theme throughout these works is the requirement to maximize the interpretation of available data to generate intelligence, and the need for accurate dissemination of the result. A number of police agencies have undergone organizational and technical changes in an attempt to improve the lines of communication and to smooth the flow of intelligence within the service (Barton and Evans 1999; Seddon and Napper 1999). This has been implemented so that the necessary intelligence is available for operational officers. It has been recognized that patrolling officers and their supervisors should become familiar with the vulnerable crime areas, especially with regard to high volume crime such as burglary and vehicle crime. This information should enable them to target resources to the most needed areas. There is however an old adage within the police service that a ‘good copper knows where the crime is happening’. It suggests that officers, through their dayto-day activities, develop an accurate perception of the location of high volume crime areas. The way that officers build a mental picture of their beat has been examined in the United States (Herbert 1997; Klinger 1997). George Rengert surveyed the cognitive hotspots of crime of Philadelphia police recruits, concluding that asking them to identify the safest parts of the city was not as informative as if he had asked them to identify the highest crime areas (Rengert 1995). The study presented here uses more experienced