Many researchers and police chiefs have asked the question, "Does crime analysis reduce crime?" This question is a difficult one is because the link between crime analysis and crime reduction is not direct. Just like the use of MRI results does not cure an illness, crime analysis is the process of using examining data and making conclusions; it is not a crime reduction strategy (cure) by itself. The connection between crime analysis and crime reduction is only through an effective police strategy that uses crime analysis. So, instead of evaluating whether crime analysis reduces crime, this article examines the role of crime analysis as a component in specific police crime reduction strategies. The evidence presented is not based on research of effectiveness of crime analysis, since there is none, but on the effectiveness research of police approaches, such as the standard model of policing, community policing, disorder policing, problem-oriented policing, hot spots policing, and the "pulling levers" focused deterrence approach, as well as popular and new approaches, such as Compstat, intelligence-led policing (ILP), and predictive policing, and the level at which crime analysis plays a role in each. Through a qualitative assessment, the author concludes that there is a clear pattern that crime analysis plays a significant role in police approaches that are effective, and just as apparent, crime analysis plays a very limited role in policing approaches that are ineffective. In addition, assessment of the policing approaches that have not been systematically evaluated, but have been widely adopted (i.e., Compstat) or are relatively new (i.e., ILP and predictive policing), reveals that crime analysis plays a central and visible role. This article shows that crime analysis is a key component in successful crime reduction efforts. Because this

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PurposeThis paper aims to present the evaluation results of a practice‐based research partnership to develop and implement a new police organizational model for crime reduction into one police agency which was implemented based on the best practices of problem‐oriented policing, hot spots policing, and Compstat.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative process evaluation of organizational changes and an impact evaluation examining specific crime types was conducted over seven years to determine increased efficiency, collaboration, and effectiveness of the police department's crime reduction strategies.FindingsThe process evaluation found that the agency improved its crime analysis capabilities as well as its coordination and communication, expanded its problem solving activities, and made a significant cultural shift towards incorporating problem solving and accountability throughout the organization. The impact evaluation found that the crimes addressed in the implementation – theft from vehicle – did decrease overall and when compared to other crime types and to neighboring jurisdictions.Research limitations/implicationsThe limitations of the research are that these results are from one agency and that the impact evaluation is not conclusive.Originality/valueThe work was carried out over seven years in which the collaboration between the researcher and the agency was seminal. The model developed can be used by other police departments, and a key finding was that strong leadership played the most important role in the implementation of the crime reduction strategies and accountability practices.

Access to this document was granted through an Emerald subscription provided by emerald-srm:409465 [] For AuthorsIf you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -The purpose of this paper is to examine national survey data of police agencies in the USA to explore the current state of crime analysis integration to patrol crime reduction work. Design/methodology/approach -The data examined in this paper are from a national quantitative survey which sought to understand how crime analysis results are used by officers as well as higher ranking personnel in the patrol division and what types of strategies are implemented using crime analysis. Findings -The findings show that the routine use of crime analysis is not well integrated. Despite the low integration, however, some differences were found. Management uses crime analysis the most overall, but officers and first-line supervisors use tactical crime analysis more routinely than management, where management personnel use evaluation most routinely. Tactical crime analysis is used most often for directed patrol, strategic for both directed patrol and general information, and evaluation for both general information and crime prevention. Analysis of using analysis proactively shows that agencies use tactical crime analysis most proactively, followed by the strategic crime analysis, then evaluation.Research limitations/implications -The study relies on self-report surveys, so the results may suffer from some of the general limitations of self-reports. Also, the study resulted in a lower response rate than surveys of police agencies typically achieve. Although responding and non-responding agencies were comparable in terms of population size, number of officers, and region of the country, The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at the response rate was about 55 percent. However, it is a possibility based on the analysis results that non-responses may reflect a disinterest in the topic or the lack of integration of crime analysis. Originality/value -This is the first national survey that focussed specifically on crime analysis integration in patrol work for crime reduction. The value of the results presented here are in the description of the curr...

Tactical police responses that seek to achieve short-term reductions in crime appear to be well suited for micro-time hot spots since they are, by nature, short term. Importantly, the conclusions are based on the evaluation of an agency's systematic implementation of the evidence-based practices as its normal practices and not for the sake of research.

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