Assessing community consequences of implementing hot spots policing in residential areas: findings from a randomized field trial
Open accessAbstract
Objectives: This paper reports on the results of an experiment examining the community impact of collaborative problem solving versus directed patrol hot spots policing approaches relative to standard policing practices. The focus is the impact on community perceptions of police. Methods: We randomly assigned 71 crime hot spots to receive problem solving, directed patrol, or standard police practices. The data are a panel survey of St Louis County, MO, hot spots residents before the treatment, immediately following treatment, and 6 to 9 months later. Applying mixed effects regression, we assessed the impact on residents’ perceptions of police abuse, procedural justice and trust, police legitimacy, and willingness to cooperate with police. Results: The residents receiving directed patrol were most impacted, experiencing depleted growth in procedural justice and trust relative to standard practice residents and nonsignificant declines in police legitimacy immediately following the treatment period. However, in both cases, views recover in the long term, after treatment ends. Problem-solving residents did not experience significant backfire effects. There was no increase in perceived police abuse in the hot spots conditions. Both treatment group residents, in the long term, were more willing to cooperate with police. Conclusions: Though there is strong evidence that hot spots policing is effective in reducing crime, it has been criticized as negatively impacting citizen evaluations of police legitimacy, and leading to heightened perceptions of police abuse. However, our results suggest that there is no long-term harm to public opinion by implementing problem solving or temporarily implementing directed patrol in hot spots.
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A more recent field experiment of hot spots policing found that residents exposed to directed patrols experienced reported reductions in perceptions of procedural justice and trust in police as compared with residents in areas assigned to problem-solving or control conditions.
“In addition, a more recent field experiment of hot spots policing found that residents exposed to directed patrols experienced reported reductions in perceptions of procedural justice and trust in police as compared with residents in areas assigned to problem-solving or control conditions (Kochel & Weisburd, 2017).”
From The Effect of Various Police Enforcement Actions on Violent Crime: Evidence From a Saturation Foot-Patrol Intervention (2018) · cites this paper as Kochel & Weisburd, 2017
The Results and the Procedural justice passage (page unavailable) report a short-term negative effect for directed patrol: residents showed less improvement in procedural justice and trust than residents in standard-practice areas. But the paper says procedural-justice scores improved across all groups and the difference disappeared by the later survey. It does not establish the claimed reduction in scores or a direct reduction relative to problem-solving areas. (LLM, conf=0.88)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredEvidence from the St. Louis County Hot Spots in Residential Areas experiment suggested the directed patrol treatment was associated with short-term detriments to police-community relations, but no negative short-term effects were linked to the problem-solving treatment.
“Evidence from the St. Louis County Hot Spots in Residential Areas experiment suggested the directed patrol treatment was associated with short‐term detriments to police–community relations, but no negative short‐term effects were linked to the problem‐solving treatment (Kochel & Weisburd, 2017).”
From Hot spots policing of small geographic areas effects on crime (2019) · cites this paper as Kochel & Weisburd, 2017
In the long term, for both treatment conditions, residents' willingness to cooperate with police was higher after the intervention ended.
“In the long term, for both treatment conditions, residents' willingness to cooperate with police was higher after the intervention ended (Kochel & Weisburd, 2017).”
From Hot spots policing of small geographic areas effects on crime (2019) · cites this paper as Kochel & Weisburd, 2017
There was a small nonsignificant decline in problem solving hot spot resident perceptions of legitimacy in the short-term follow-up, but legitimacy had rebounded to similar levels to control respondents by the long-term follow-up.
“There was a small nonsignificant decline in problem solving hot spot resident perceptions of legitimacy in the short‐term follow‐up, but legitimacy had rebounded to similar levels to control respondents by the long‐term follow‐up.”
From Problem-oriented policing for reducing crime and disorder: An updated systematic review and meta-analysis (2020) · cites this paper as Kochel and Weisburd (2017)
Kochel and Weisburd (2017) found procedural justice perceptions improved over time in problem solving hot spots, but no more than they did in control hot spots.
“Using an in‐person resident survey, Kochel and Weisburd (2017) found procedural justice perceptions improved over time in problem solving hot spots, but no more than they did in control hot spots.”
From Problem-oriented policing for reducing crime and disorder: An updated systematic review and meta-analysis (2020) · cites this paper as Kochel and Weisburd (2017)
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Cites
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Self-citationPulled Over: How Police Stops Define Race and Citizenship
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Self-citationThe Effects of “Pulling Levers” Focused Deterrence Strategies on Crime
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Hot spots policing of small geographic areas effects on crime
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Self-citationThe Impact of Hot Spots Policing on Collective Efficacy: Findings from a Randomized Field Trial
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“That did not occur in Redlands, but was an outcome in our study (see Kochel & Weisburd, 2017).”
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- Authors
- Kochel, T. R., & Weisburd, D.
- Affiliations
- Southern Illinois University Carbondale (US)
- George Mason University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Kochel, Tammy Rinehart
- Venue
- Journal of Experimental Criminology
- Published
- 2017-02-11
- Volume
- 13
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 143-170
- ISSN
- 1572-8315 (ISSN-L)
- 1573-3750
- OpenAlex
- W2587149706
- Cited by
- 77
- References
- 16
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 22 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 15 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 1
- FWCI
- 42.55
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Update notices
- correction (2025-09-27)
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Journal of Experimental Criminology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- National Institute of Justice (2011-IJ-CX-0007)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Policing Practices and Perceptions
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Crime Patterns and Interventions
- Social Sciences › Law › Criminal Justice and Penology
- Keywords
- hot spot policing, crime hotspots, problem solving, community perceptions of police, procedural justice, police legitimacy, trust in police, backfire effect, residential areas, St. Louis County
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