Exam 8: Problem Solving and Policing Problem Spaces

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Scanning
$\bullet$ Scanning refers to a process whereby individual officers, police units, or the police department collectively examine the community for problems or hot spots.
$\bullet$ It is important that the scanning phase explicitly identifies the problem and its boundaries.
Analysis
$\bullet$ Once a problem, quality-of-life issue, dangerous place, or hot spot is identified, officers attempt to collect information about it.
$\bullet$ The goal of analysis "is to determine why a problem is occurring.The underlying, situational causes of the problem are examined in terms of the offenders' motivations, the nature of victims or targets, and the environment of the place(s) where the problem occurs."
$\bullet$ Basically, they attempt to learn the who, what, when, where, and how of the problem.
Response
$\bullet$ Once a problem or hot spot is clearly identified and analyzed, the police must then structure an effective response.This means the police must deal with the cause or causes of the problem rather than its symptoms.
$\bullet$ The response may involve the police directly or they may serve in a referral role.
Assessment
$\bullet$ Once there is a response by the police or other governmental agency, the police must assess the response to see if it worked and eliminated or reduced the problem.If the strategy did not result in an acceptable outcome, the police must re-analyze the problem and fashion another response.
$\bullet$ Assessment often consists of examining activities that occur in the problem area once the response has been implemented