This assignment will discuss primary police approaches to detecting and preventing crime. Problem orientated policing concentrates on police management structure on theoretical spotting of crime whereas SARA focuses on practical situational crime prevention. It is within the positivist tradition as it focuses on quantitative data collection and analysis.
SARA is a method used by the police, proposed by Eck and Spelman (1987) comprises of four limbs. Scanning is identifying a “problem” that requires attention. Analysis attempts to find the “cause” of the problem. Response is the tactics to “reduce” cause of the problem. Assessment measures the impact of the problem and a contemplation of …show more content…
A hot spot is only relative to a definition of activities that come within the ambit of police action.
RAT ignores the square of crime argued by Young (1992) which suggested any changes in the RAT theory would alter crime rates as relations between public and public may improve or worsen. The police may offer incentives to the public to cooperate to report crime. The agencies that deal with crime officially and unofficially could be noted as having an impact on crime.
In “operation cougar” mass shootings occurred in Manchester and SARA was applied to reduce crime. It could be noted that gunshots scanned as “the problem” but on assessment only the guns were the cause, but not possible causes such as gang rivalry or social tensions provoking these incidents were considered.
There was 90% reduction in gun crime after the confiscation response, but gangs may have resorted to using blades to commit crime. The gang psychology could have been considered the “true” cause of the guns being used. However police engagement and understanding with gangs reduced gun crime …show more content…
However as the aim of POP/SARA was to reduce offending in Kirkholt estate only, it was suggested that in relation to Situational Crime Displacement, neighbouring border wards also saw drops in burglaries. Therefore no displacement had occurred but the areas surrounding had lower levels of rewards for potential criminals that could be obtained as did the whole estate after security measures were implemented.
In conclusion overall POP is successful at reducing the rates of crime as the police can pinpoint the locations and causes in order to develop the best strategy in deflecting crime away. Routine activities theory has proved useful in determining factors that may be behind the cause of crime, even though police methods do not always directly appease the deeper psychological issues.
It is useful for the police to have a management structure in how crimes are dealt with but the focus should be more on not just tackling crime itself and the roots that lead to crime than the police own structure. SARA is useful for tackling hotspots and placing measures to remove crime from an area and to displace safely criminals away from the