The Essex Risk-Based Policing Initiative: Evidence-Based Practices in Problem Analysis and Crime Prevention in the United Kingdom

Abstract

This study draws insights from environmental criminology to implement a policing initiative focused on risky places and the micro-spatial attractors that create vulnerable settings for crime to emerge or persist in the town of Basildon. Evidence-based approaches to crime control have become more important within law enforcement approaches to crime control. Insights that have emerged from recent research on place-based approaches will serve as a central focus of this paper. The experimental approach taken to assess, implement and test the risk-based policing initiative incorporates lessons learned from similar US-based initiatives, and is the first study of its kind in the UK. Results show that community violence offences reduced significantly, and the target areas outperformed the control areas by over 47%. A cost-benefit analysis found this equates to a costs savings of £106,220 during the 6-month intervention period. This study demonstrates the value of evidence-based approaches to problem analysis and place-based crime prevention, and the generalizability of policing research in the US to UK settings. It also demonstrates how a researcher-practitioner implemented initiative from a large city in Missouri (US) was transferred to a small town in Essex (UK) solely via the in-house expertise of Essex Police personnel who reviewed published and open-access scientific literature, a true testament to “pracademics” and translational criminology.