Tackling Burglary
Project Advice
This page is dedicate to helping practitioners with problem solving techniques, analysis and evaluation, to ensure that any intervention is directly targeted at the problem.
There are three steps to a successful project. They are:
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Planning
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Implementing
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Evaluating
Planning
What practitioners should do before commencing a project.
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Think practically- check that targets are tightly framed and focused. Setting well-framed targets and monitoring these helps ensure that action plans are turned into reality.
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Using SARA to develop crime reduction plan. SARA has been used for some time in problem-oriented policing (POP) as a methodical process for problem solving. It is an integral part of the philosophy of community policing in the US.
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Partnership working - Crime is tackled in every local area by Crime & Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs) - a combination of police, local authorities and other organisations and businesses who work together to develop and implement strategies for tackling crime and disorder on a local level.
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Crime Reduction Discussion Forum and Ideas Exchange are designed as information sharing tools for practitioners and members of the statutory partnerships.
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Consider displacement theory which argues that removing opportunity for crime or seeking to prevent a crime by changing the situation in which it occurs does not actually prevent crime but merely moves it around. In practice, crime is often not displaced and often there is a "diffusion of benefits", where areas or crimes not subject to the intervention see reduction too. But crime rates in surrounding areas and rates of other crimes do need monitoring to ensure the problem is not simply being shifted.
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In many instances, there is an obvious gap between the public perception of crime and the reality, but tackling the fear of crime cannot be done in isolation. In order for any approach to be successful, it needs to take in to account the many and varied social, environmental and personal factors that may be contributing to the fear of crime.
Implementing and evaluating
What practitioners should take into consideration whilst implementing a project and at the end.
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How to evaluate- practitioners' review attempts to deal with a problem and evaluate how successful they have been. There are three major reasons why the evaluation stage is very important:
To find out whether a particular problem still exists and requires continuing attention. This is important in deciding whether to continue to deploy resources to respond effectively to the problem.
To improve problem-solving skills by finding out what seems to work in differing circumstances. This avoids reinventing the wheel and contribute to the "what works" knowledgebase and the dissemination of good practice.
To enable effective problem-solving to be recognised within the police service and other organisations, acknowledging individuals' efforts.
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Pushing Back the Boundaries: New Techniques for Assessing the Impact of Burglary Schemes - This Research, Development & Statistics On-Line Report's primary purpose is to present statistical analysis techniques and its main audience is those conducting in-depth evaluations of crime reduction projects. It presents a thorough description of new analytical techniques used to quantify the outcomes of an Reducing Burglary Initiative Round 1 project in Liverpool and the details provided will enable replication of the methods for future evaluations.
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Set new targets- to help partners clarify what they are aiming for, enable those providing services to be clear about expectations, provide markers for checking if plans are on track, or need adjusting. It will help partners, service providers, service users and the wider public to influence priorities and assess achievement. The Audit Commission has published helpful general guidance on target setting.
Please ensure you have included the following information:
A description of the project or initiative.
An outline of the problem.
Timeframe and affected area
How was the problem being tackled? What interventions were used?
Who were involved in the project or initiative?
The outcomes or benefits
What were barriers to success? How were they overcome?
Your contact details.
Last update: Monday, July 21, 2008