Solving Crime Problems: Guides & Reports

Community Policing in Local Departments
Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), February 2001. 
This 11-page report discusses changes in community policing between 1997 and 1999 as reported by more than 2,000 local police agencies. Its findings are based on the analysis of responses to the 1997 and 1999 Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) surveys, conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). The COPS Office partnered with BJS for both iterations, contributing funding and substantive expertise towards survey development and administration.

COPS Innovations: Problem-Solving Partnerships
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), June 2001. 
This publication summarizes findings from the national evaluation of the COPS Problem-Solving Partnership (PSP) program grantees conducted by the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF). PERF examined the problem-solving projects of 447 PSP grantees, analyzing agency activity and progress at each stage in the SARA model, resulting in recommendations for agencies wishing to conduct a problem-solving project.

Problem Analysis in Policing
Police Foundation and Office of Community Oriented Policing Services 
(COPS), April 2003.
Problem Analysis in Policing introduces and defines problem analysis and provides guidance on how problem analysis can be integrated and institutionalized into modern policing practices. The 64-page report is a summary of what problem analysis is, what skills and knowledge are necessary to conduct it, and how it can be advanced by the law enforcement community, academia, the federal government, and other institutions. The ideas and recommendations in this report come primarily from a two-day forum conducted in February 2002 by the Police Foundation and the COPS Office that brought a group of academics, practitioners, and policy makers together to discuss problem analysis and make recommendations for its progress.

Problem-Oriented Guides for Police Series 
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS). 
Problem-Oriented Guides for Police, or POP Guides, consists of over 40 problem-oriented guidebooks and companion guidebooks that focus on assessing and measuring response strategies. The POP Guides provide law enforcement with problem-specific questions to help identify potential factors and underlying causes of specific problems, identify known responses to each problem, and provide potential measures to assess the effectiveness of problem-solving efforts.

Problem-Oriented Policing: Reflections on the First 20 Years
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), September 2000. 
This monograph assesses the current state of problem-oriented policing (POP), revisits the fundamental principles of Herman Goldstein's POP framework, and reports on the successes and distortions in implementing POP over the last 20 years. It is an invaluable resource for those seeking to better understand this fundamental element of policing.

Problem-Solving Tips: A Guide to Reducing Crime and Disorder through Problem-Solving Partnerships
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), July 2002. 
Problem-Solving Tips: A Guide to Reducing Crime and Disorder through Problem-Solving Partnerships is intended to serve as a reference for those in all stages of implementing the problem-solving approach. The guide contains insights into every stage of the process, most of which are drawn from the experience of law enforcement officers in the field. This guide relies on the SARA model: scanning, analyzing, response, and assessment of problems.

Using Analysis for Problem-Solving: A Guidebook for Law Enforcement
Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), September 2001. 
This Guide provides law enforcement practitioners with a resource for conducting problem analysis. It summarizes many challenges of the analysis phase of the problem-solving process. This book builds on the foundation presented in Problem-Solving Tips: A Guide to Reducing Crime and Disorder Through Problem-Solving Partnerships, and complements the Problem-Oriented Guides for Police Series. The Guide also identifies tools for analysis and proposes tips for effectively using each tool.

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