The application of problem-oriented policing to crime prevention

Abstract

Criticizing adherents of the community policing strategy because of dealing to much with problem-solving efforts of the police and less with the final results of its application, Herman Goldstein developed at the end of 1970’s a new approach named problem-oriented policing. It is a proactive pattern of police action which the main objective is to detect problems beyond criminal offences, violations and other socially harmful phenomena requiring police intervention. The objective of such an approach is to minimize the opportunity that police officers should go several times to the same locations within their community to cope with the same problems. The efficiency of problem-oriented policing primarily depends on three key factors working within the police organization: management, organizational structure and internal informing and reporting. The well-known patterns of problem-oriented policing are showed at the end of this paper.

Kritikujući pristalice strategije policije u lokalnoj zajednici da se previše bave načinom na koji policija rešava probleme, a manje krajnjim rezultatima koji se postižu njenom primenom, Herman Goldstein je krajem 70-tih godina XX veka razvio problemski-orjentisan pristup. U pitanju je proaktivan model postupanja policije koji ima za cilj otkrivanje problema u pozadini krivičnih dela, prekršaja i drugih društveno negativnih pojava koje zahtevaju intervenciju policije. Cilj takvog pristupa jeste smanjivanje mogućnosti da pripadnici policije više puta posećuju ista područja u lokalnoj zajednici kako bi se bavili istim problemima. Efikasnost problemski-orjentisanog pristupa prvenstveno zavisi od tri ključna faktora koji deluju unutar policijske organizacije: rukovođenja, organizacione strukture i procesa internog informisanja i izveštavanja. Na kraju rada prikazani su poznatiji modeli rešavanja problema u lokalnoj zajednici (SARA, CAPRA, KRA).