PROBLEM-ORIENTED POLICING IN PRACTICE*
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Research Summary: Interviews and surveys were used to measure the extent of problem-oriented policing (POP) by individual police officers in the San Diego Police Department. Officers tended to engage in small-scale problem solving with little formal analysis or assessment. Responses generally included enforcement plus one or two more collaborative or nontraditional initiatives. Policy Implications: Despite 15 years of national promotion and a concerted effort at implementation within the San Diego Police Department, POP as practiced by ordinary police officers fell far short of the ideal model. It may be unreasonable to expect every police officer to continuously engage in full-fledged POP.
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Experience with problem-oriented policing teaches that its practice is not easily achieved.
“Experience with POP teaches us that its practice is not easily achieved (see Capowich et al. 1994; Cordner and Biebel 2005; Police Executive Research Forum 2000; Sampson and Scott 2000).”
From Mirage of Police Reform: Procedural Justice and Police Legitimacy (2017) · cites this paper as Cordner and Biebel 2005
Fully implementing POP has been challenging, and programs are often characterized by partial implementations of the SARA model (shallow problem-solving).
“While POP has been widely adopted and assessed, it is important to note that fully implementing POP has been challenging (Cordner & Biebel, 2005; Maguire, Uchida, & Hassell, 2015), and programs are often characterized by partial implementations of the SARA model that have been termed “shallow” problem‐solving (Braga & Weisburd, 2010).”
From Problem-oriented policing for reducing crime and disorder: An updated systematic review and meta-analysis (2020) · cites this paper as Cordner & Biebel, 2005
The available evidence suggests that even "shallow" problem solving better focuses police crime prevention efforts at crime hot spots.
“While it is difficult for police agencies to implement the “ideal” version of POP (Braga & Weisburd, 2006; Cordner & Biebel, 2005; Eck, 2006), the available evidence suggests that even “shallow” problem solving better focuses police crime prevention efforts at crime hot spots.”
From Hot spots policing of small geographic areas effects on crime (2019) · cites this paper as Cordner & Biebel, 2005
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References 9 · Cited by 140
Research works printed but not linked: 11
- Brame, Richard and Alex Piquero 1998 The police and the control of crime and disorder. In Geoffrey Alpert and Alex Piquero (eds.), Community Policing: Contemporary Readings. Prospect Heights, Ill.: Waveland Press.
- Buerger, Michael 1994 The problems of problem solving: Resistance, interdependencies, and conflicting interests. American Journal of Police 13:1-36.
- Capowich, George E. and Janice A. Roehl 1994 Problem-Oriented Policing: Actions and Effectiveness in San Diego. In Dennis Rosenbaum (ed.), The Challenge of Community Policing: Testing the Promises. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage pp. 127-146.
- Clarke, Ronald V. 1998 Defining police strategies: Problem solving, problem-oriented policing and community-oriented policing. In Tara O'Connor Shelley and Anne C. Grant (eds.), Problem-Oriented Policing: Crime-Specific Problems, Criti- cal Issues and Making POP Work. Washington, D.C.: Police Executive Research Forum.
- Cordner, Gary 1986 Fear of crime and the police: An evaluation of a fear-reduction strategy. Journal of Police Science and Administration 14:223-233. 1988 A problem-oriented approach to community-oriented policing. In Jack Greene and Stephen Mastrofski (eds.), Community Policing: Rhetoric or Reality. New York: Praeger. unknown Seq: 25 26-MAY-05 9:53
- PROBLEM-ORIENTED POLICING 179 1998 Problem-oriented policing vs. zero tolerance. In Tara O'Connor Shelley and Anne C. Grant (eds.), Problem-Oriented Policing: Crime-Specific Problems, Critical Issues and Making POP Work. Washington, D.C.: Police Executive Research Forum.
- Mills, Andy 1999 The State of Problem Solving. Presentation at the International Problem- Oriented Policing Conference, San Diego, Calif.
- Sherman, Lawrence 1991 Book review: Problem-oriented policing. Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology 82:3.
- Stewart, James K. 1985 Research and the police administrator: Working smarter, not harder. In Jack Greene and Stephen Mastrofski (eds.), Community Policing: Rheto- ric or Reality. New York: Praeger.
- Tilley, Nick 1999 The relationship between crime prevention and problem-oriented policing. In Corina Sole Brito and Tracy Allan (eds.), Problem-Oriented Policing: Crime Specific Problems, Critical Issues and Making POP Work, Vol. 2. Washington, D.C.: Police Executive Research Forum.
- Webster, Barbara and Ed Connors 1993 Police methods for identifying community problems. American Journal of Police 12:75-102.
- Authors
- CORDNER, G., & BIEBEL, E. P.
- Affiliations
- Eastern Kentucky University (US)
- ORCID
- CORDNER, GARY
- Venue
- Criminology <html_ent glyph="@amp;" ascii="&"/> Public Policy
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2005-05
- Volume
- 4
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 155-180
- ISSN
- 1538-6473 (ISSN-L)
- 1745-9133
- OpenAlex
- W1975137385
- Cited by
- 140
- References
- 9
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 16 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 5 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 9 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 5
- FWCI
- 23.63
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Criminology & Public Policy (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Political Science and International Relations › Policing Practices and Perceptions
- Social Sciences › Law › Criminal Justice and Penology
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Crime Patterns and Interventions
- Keywords
- problem-oriented policing, police practice, police officers, police cooperation, San Diego Police Department
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