Crime Prevention Through SWOT Analysis: Problem Oriented Policing (POP)

Crime prevention is part of a police department’s job responsibilities, along with creating safer communities for its residents. Collaboration between the two is essential for the process to be successful. This collaboration is the basis for community policing and working together to reduce crime through problem-oriented policing or POP. In this paper, three popular POP models will be examined for strengths and weaknesses. The discussion will improve on the weaknesses and revitalize the model’s effectiveness through SWOT analysis concepts. This collaboration will examine how their conjunctive usages may help reduce crime in our communities.

Keywords
Problem-oriented policing (POP); SARA Model; 5Is Framework; ID PARTNERS; SWOT Analysis
A key concept lies in the establishment of POP. Problem-Oriented Policing (POP) focuses on issues or problems differently based on each individual occurrence (Goldstein, 1999, 1990; Hoover, 1992; Lab, 2014; Rojek, 2003; Scott, 2000). It also fosters collaboration throughout the different sectors and divisions within each police department or agency.
CompStat is an example of interdepartmental collaboration and POP in action. CompStat analyzes criminal complaints or arrests from a department’s individual data files; thus, using comparative statistics (Dempsey & Forst, 2010). Crime is identified throughout the city and action plans are implemented to resolve the issues. These plans are created by a police department’s commanding officer and specifically address the crime in that area. One plan may be a directed patrol effort involving officers on special assignment. This is where officers target a specific area because of an increase in residential burglaries or a saturation patrol for a specific area and they enforce zero tolerance policies. During the POP phase, different models have been adopted for crime prevention and reduction
Ekblom’s 5Is stand for Intelligence, Intervention, Implementation, Involvement, & Impact (Ekblom, 1999, 2011). The intelligence phase collects and examines data about crime and its motives; intervention minimizes crime through prevention tactics; implementation applies learned methods to real-life scenarios; involvement fosters collaboration among relevant agencies to accentuate the implementation phase; and impact evaluates prevention tactics for effectiveness and desired outcomes (Ekblom, 1999, 2011).
Some critics note the 5Is Framework is hard to remember and too complex (Sidebottom & Tilley, 2010). This is where a SWOT analysis can improve on those weaknesses; especially in the implementation and impact stages. During the implementation and impact stages, the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats can be evaluated with a template like the one shown in Figure 2. Still, other critics saw gaps in the 5Is Framework; therefore, another POP model was created.

ID PARTNERS In 2001, Neil Henson created the ID PARTNERS for mainstreaming POP concepts with the London Metropolitan Police Service (Sidebottom & Tilley, 2010). Henson’s ID PARTNERS stands