Problem-Solving Hot Spots

In Philadelphia, the police department uses data and advanced information systems to routinely and precisely identify locations where gun violence is most concentrated. After identifying crime concentration targets, the police department directs resources to these areas, including dispatching officers. The Philadelphia program started with a few geographical information system analysts creating heat maps that were then studied by the Criminal Justice department at Temple University to determine patterns of activity.¹Julie Wertheimer, Revell Shondell, Kevin Thomas, and Maari Porter. Interviewed by Sunny Schnitzer, Gary Therkilden, and Nadia Chait with Everytown. The results of this study informed where the police department could best target its resources.²Ibid.  Currently, the Philadelphia Police Department targets hot spots within four areas: the 22nd, 24th, 25th, and 39th districts.³Philadelphia Police Department, “Philadelphia Police Department Violent Crime Response Strategy, #PPDVCR,”  accessed September 11, 2019, http://bit.ly/2PerAen.

The police department’s current hot spot strategy promotes community engagement, data analysis, shooting-response protocol, tactical deployment, warrant service, partnerships with federal agencies, social media monitoring, and identifying nuisance establishments.⁴Ibid. Among the police department’s partners are the district patrol, narcotics, K-9, counterterrorism, SWAT, civil affairs, highway patrol, mounted, and traffic units.⁵Ibid. Temple University provides ongoing data analysis.

Research suggests that areas targeted as hot spots have seen a decrease in crime and homicides. Philadelphia began targeting  hot spots in 2012. The following year, the Philadelphia Police Department again partnered with Temple University to determine the effectiveness of the strategy. Twenty-seven hot spots were identified to receive offender-focused policing.⁶Jerry H. Ratcliff et al., “Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Smart Policing Initiative: Testing the Impacts of Differential Police Strategies on Violent Crime Hotspots,” US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance, August 2013,  http://bit.ly/35L3v4l. The study showed that locations targeted with the offender-focused strategy experienced a 22 percent decrease in violent crime and a 31 percent decrease in violent street felonies.⁷Ibid. By focusing police efforts on the offenders, as opposed to the entire population of an area, police officers reduced crime while avoiding negative perceptions of “community policing.”⁸Ibid.