The Uses and Impacts of Mobile Computing Technology in Hot Spots Policing

“…to emphasize is that officers tended to use technology to facilitate more traditional types of proactive activities (i.e., surveillance and enforcement) rather than preventive problem-solving, which tends to be more effective in reducing crime at hot spots (Braga et al., 2012; Taylor et al., 2011).”

“…County Hot Spots in Residential Areas Study (Kochel, Burruss, and Weisburd 2015) (45) Mobile Computing Technology at Crime Hot Spots in a Suburban County (Koper et al. 2015) (46) Proactive CCTV Monitoring with Directed Police Patrol in Newark, New Jersey (Piza et al. 2015) (47) Tactical Police…”

“Indeed, in the Koper et al. (2015) study mentioned above, greater use of tech­ nology for enforcement or surveillance was actually associated with weaker crime prevention effects.”

“I can’t physically be in several places at once, but this means I can’, evoking the superhuman aspects that technology could conjure (Koper et al., 2015).”

“…15minutes per stop—see Koper, 1995) once or a few times per day (sometimes less regularly) depending on the types and severity of the locations’ problems (e.g., Ariel et al., 2016; Barnes et al., 2020; Koper et al., 2015, 2021; Rosenfeld et al., 2014; Telep et al., 2014; Williams & Coupe, 2017).”

“…that cause, attract, or facilitate criminal and disorderly behavior (e.g., see Andresen et al., 2017; Brantingham & Brantingham, 1993; Curman et al., 2015; Eck & Weisburd, 1995; Groff & Lockwood, 2014; Groff et al., 2010; Koper et al., 2015a; Sherman et al., 1989; Weisburd et al., 2004, 2012).”

“…~19% (12) of which were conducted in cities with populations of 200,000 or fewer residents and our own interpretation is that only three studies could be loosely classified as occurring in small, suburban or rural jurisdictions (Bryant et al., 2014; Commission, C. J., 1998; Koper et al., 2015).”

“The use of other technologies that have far-reaching effects on police agencies (Koper et al., 2015) like analytic systems, video surveillance systems, license plate readers, and DNA testing was very limited in the study area.”

“…findings on the optimal length of hot spot patrols that have substantially influenced subsequent research and practice (e.g., Ariel et al., 2016, 2020; Barnes et al., 2020; Kochel & Weisburd, 2018; Koper et al., 2015, 2020; Rosenfeld et al., 2014; Telep et al., 2014; Williams & Coupe, 2017).”

“Given this, research on existing RT within police services has shown mixed results concerning their overall effectiveness, efficiency, and fairness (Haskins and Chapman 2018; Jennings, Lynch, and Fridell 2015; Koper, Lum, and Hibdon 2015; Ozer 2016; Sanders and Sheptycki 2017; White 2014).”

“For example, hot spots policing uses data to dictate the amount of time officers spend patrolling specific locations found to be high in crime (Ferguson, 2017; Koper et al., 2015; Lum et al., 2017).”