Problem Solving Techniques
There are a number of designed tools and techniques that can be used to help you gain a better understanding of problems, which in turn will aid you in designing more effective solutions. The remainder of this section looks at four of them:
- Routine activity theory
- SARA
- Repeat victimisation
- Hot spots and products
This section contains an overview of these techniques. More information about them and other problem solving techniques can be found at http://www.crimereduction.gov.uk/learningzone/lz_learning. htm#theory
Routine Activity Theory (RAT)
Routine Activity Theory was developed by the criminologist Marcus Felson and states that three elements are present when any crime is committed:
- a suitable target
- a lack of capable guardian
- a likely and motivated offender.
A target can be a person, a place or an object. What makes a target suitable is whether
- it has some value for the offender, either because of what they can gain from it or the effect they have by committing the offence on that particular target
- the ease with which it can be moved
- how visible it is
- how easy it is to get access to the target.
A capable guardian is any person or object that discourages an offence from taking place. For example a capable guardian could be a householder, security guard, alarm system or CCTV camera. The important thing to remember about RAT however is that a capable guardian must be absent for an offence to take place.
A motivated offender is a person who has decided to commit the offence. The decision could be made because a wide variety of reasons. For example: financial gain, the effect on the victim, the pleasure derived from committing the offence, or personal beliefs which make the offender believe that the act they are committing is not an offence.
RAT is useful for two main reasons:
- it can be used reactively to identify why an offence occurred and to prevent it happening again
- it can be used proactively to identify potential risk areas and prevent an offence happening at all.
SARA (Scanning, Analysis, Response, Assessment)
SARA has been used for some time in problem-oriented policing (POP) as a methodical process for
problem solving and is an integral part of the philosophy of community policing. It is of use to crime reduction practitioners in any field as applying the process can ensure that a crime problem is effectively identified and tackled, avoiding any waste of time and resources if only part of the actual problem is identified. As SARA is commonly used within the police service, an understanding of the process may help partner organisations to work with the police to tackle local problems.
Its four stages are: Scanning – spotting problems using knowledge, basic data and electronic maps Analysis – using hunches and information technology to dig deeper into problems’ characteristics and
underlying causes Response – devising a solution, working with the community, wherever possible Assessment – looking back to see if the solution worked and what lessons can be learned.
Scanning
Scanning allows incidents to be grouped into clusters or ‘problems’. These problems comprise similar, related or recurring incidents and are identified from police data and intelligence and calls from members of the community.
The definition of what constitutes a ‘problem’ is deliberately left open as there is an almost endless range of situations where the public may call the police. Incidents may vary in terms of their seriousness and type, but they are all of concern to the community and call for a police response.
Problems identified in the scanning phase of the process should not be “one-offs”; they should reflect events which have been recurring for some time, certainly over a period of months. It makes more sense to spend time and resources on a long-term problem than on one that would have only lasted for a couple of weeks.
Analysis
In this phase, crime reduction practitioners identify the conditions that give rise to a particular problem by examining the characteristics and impact of the problem in greater detail. For example, scanning might have revealed that there were many thefts from shops in a particular area, but analysis will provide the hour, day or month that the thefts took place and from which particular shops.
Analysis may involve collecting information about:
- offenders and victims
- the time of occurrence
- location and other details of the physical environment
- history of the current problem
- the motivations, gains and losses of involved parties
- the apparent (and hidden) causes
- competing interests
- the apparent results of current responses.
Police and other practitioners may need to talk to colleagues, partners, local businesses, or to members of the community to better understand the problem. As well as police data, information held by other organisations such as insurance companies, hospitals, local authorities, probation and schools may be useful.
Response
Response refers to any action taken to try to address a problem. This might vary from the simple (for example, a practitioner advising someone what they should or should not be doing), to the complex (such as a practitioner involving the community and local bodies to set up a project to help young people).
Work done in the analysis phase helps to identify or isolate the element that can most easily and effectively be tackled to try to resolve a problem. Often, responses will combine actions to tackle more than one aspect of the problem identified during the analysis phase. In selecting responses, it is crucial to work out in detail how they are expected to produce their intended effects.
Assessment
In the final stage of SARA, practitioners review attempts to deal with a problem and evaluate how successful they have been. There are three major reasons why the assessment stage is very important:
- To find out whether a particular problem still exists and requires continuing attention. This is important in deciding whether to continue to deploy resources to respond effectively to the problem.
- To improve problem-solving skills by finding out what seems to work in differing circumstances. This avoids reinventing the wheel and contributes to the “what works” knowledgebase and the dissemination of good practice.
- To enable effective problem-solving to be recognised within the police service and other organisations, acknowledging individuals' efforts.
Assessment can be difficult to do well and as a result is often largely overlooked. It must be a routine feature of any problem-solving structure. Assessment is not an evaluation of the performance of those involved but what happened when a problem was tackled.
An assessment that concludes that a problem has been dealt with successfully does not always mean that it has been eliminated. There are many different types of success. For example:
- The problem and its impact remain the same but the volume of police effort to respond to it may be reduced.
- The harm to the public may be reduced even though the number of incidents remains the same.
- The number of problem incidents may be reduced.
- The problem may be entirely eliminated.
The section on evaluation in this guide looks at some of the basic principles to follow
Repeat Victimisation (RV)
We know that some people and locations are repeatedly victimised, and that a small proportion of victims account for a large proportion of all victimisations. On average 4% of victims suffer 40% of all crime. Understanding patterns of repeat victimisation (RV) can help enhance your work in helping to create safer communities.
RV is defined as being when the same person or place suffers from more than once incident over a specified period of time.
RV is also quite predictable as prior victimisation is an excellent predictor of future risk – those once victimised are more likely to be victimised again. For example, according to the British Crime Survey 3% of people experience 51% of property crime. Repeats often occur soon after the initial victimisation, meaning that action taken swiftly after an offence occurs is the most effective. RV rates tend to be highest in high crime areas, and certain areas have high crime rates not because more people are victimised, but because there is more victimisation of the same people Knowledge of RV is useful for predicting which people are most at risk and when they are at most risk. People who have been victimised once are at more risk of being victimised in the future. We know that that the time between victimisations is usually short, therefore to focus on repeat victims/locations targets in high crime area can place resources where they are most needed.
This information is important when designing interventions in order to prevent and detect future crimes. For example, to focus on those most recently victimised offers greater chance of preventing a further attack, and detecting the offender. But the neighbourhood effect also identifies that police and partner effort should additionally be placed on those houses within closest proximity to the victimised premises.
Hot Spots and Products
Another useful technique for problem solving is that of identifying hotspots. In a similar way that a high proportion of victimisation takes place on the same person or place repeatedly, crime often focuses in particular places known as hotspots. Hotspots can occur for a variety of reasons. For example, this could be because of the number of people that move through an area, such as a busy town centre, or because of a high concentration of desirable goods in a particular place.
It is important to distinguish where a hotspot occurs and the times that it is a hotspot. For example it may be possible to identify a pattern where certain areas are hotspots at specific times of the day, week, month or year. For example, a town centre experiencing violence may be a hotspot on Friday and Saturday nights, and a street in a residential area may be a hotspot for burglaries during the day when people are out at work.
Focusing attention on hotspots can reduce crime quickly and has a high impact on a large number of victims.
Crime is also concentrated on particular ‘hot products’, which are likely to be stolen, including cars, bikes, mobile phones and cash. What you own can increase the chances of you becoming a victim. For example owning a particular make of car, living in a specific location with certain social variables can increase risks many times over.
Certain goods are more frequently stolen, and knowing what is ‘hot’ in your area can explain patterns of theft and help you think about how stolen goods are sold which in turn may assist you in disrupting those markets.
Effective problem solving relies on good information sharing and analysis of problems. The section on Auditing and Information Sharing outlines some of the principles you should follow.
Summary
Problems have to be understood before they can be solved Analysis of crime problems should focus on victim, offender and the situation where crimes occur Interventions to tackle crime problems should be based on evidence There are sets of tools designed to help understand the problems Interaction with the community and partners, and recognition of resources and expertise is essential.
