Problem-Oriented Policing

In the last three decades, several concepts have been advanced to organize efforts to improve policing. Among them have been team policing, neighborhood policing, community policing, zero-tolerance policing and problem-oriented policing. Herman Goldstein was the first to propose problem-oriented policing in 1979. Problem-oriented policing is a policing strategy that involves the identification and analysis of specific crime and disorder problems, in order to develop effective response strategies in conjunction with ongoing assessment. The emphasis in problem-oriented policing is on directing attention to the broad range of problems the community expects the police to handle–the problems that constitute the business of the police and on how police can be more effective in dealing with them. Many agencies have taken on board Goldstein’s most important tenet: officers should tackle the root cause of related incidents, rather than repeatedly returning to them. The active involvement of the community and external agencies are often vital to the identification of problems and the development of strategies to solve them. Problem-oriented policing presents an alternative approach to policing that has gained attention in recent years among many police agencies.
Some of the first formal experimentations with Goldstein's model of problem-oriented policing occurred in Madison, Wisconsin, Newport News, Virginia and Baltimore, Maryland in the mid 1980’s. The Baltimore County Police Department formally introduced Goldstein's problem-oriented policing model into its COPE unit's operations in 1983 and the Newport News, Virginia Police Department followed suit in 1984. A number of other police agencies began to incorporate at least some of the problem-oriented policing methods into extensive community policing efforts during the 1980s.
This strategy places more emphasis on research and analysis as well as crime prevention and the engagement of public and private

References: Beito, Linda Royster. Leadership Effectiveness in Community Policing Indiana: Wyndham Hall Press Goldstein, Herman. (1990). Problem-Oriented Policing. McGraw-Hill Incorporated. Oliver, Willard. (2003). Community-Oriented Policing: a Systemic Approach to Policing (Third edition). New Jersey: Prentice-Hall, Inc. Wikipedia Contributors. (2008, March, 24). Problem-Oriented Policing. Retrieved August 16, 2008 from the World Wide Web: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=problem-orientedpolicing&oldid=200647813