Problem-Oriented Policing: Crime-Specific Problems, Critical Issues, and Making POP Work.

Problem-Oriented Policing: Crime-Specific Problems, Critical Issues, and Making POP Work edited by Tara O'Connor Shelley and Anne C. Grant, Police Executive Research Forum, Washington, DC.

Problem-oriented policing has emerged as one of the most promising developments in policing over the past few decades. Police officers nationwide and abroad have employed the problem-solving process commonly known as SARA (scanning, analysis, response, and assessment) to address crime, disorder, and fear problems in their communities. This, however, remains no simple task and requires that officers obtain new knowledge, skills, and abilities that improve their understanding and responses to crime and its causes.

Problem-Oriented Policing, an edited book, contains presentations from the 1998 International Problem-Oriented Policing Conference held in San Diego, California. More than 1,500 academics, practitioners, and community activists worldwide attended this ninth annual conference. This forum provided a unique opportunity for participants to learn from one another's efforts. The articles selected for this edition provide a rich blend of the practitioners' experiences and research presented at the conference.

Divided into three sections, this book is well organized. The first section, Crime Specific Problems, highlights crime problems commonly experienced by communities, including gangs, burglaries, and violence against women. For example, the use of the SARA process in handling gangs helps to illustrate its application to a serious crime problem.

The next section, Critical Issues, addresses a few of the most serious and emerging concerns facing law enforcement leadership, including civilian review boards, school violence and fear, and crime in business districts. Both timely and contemporary, the issues discussed in this section, include recent misconduct by police and current schoolyard shootings, which have received national attention. The authors for these articles provide useful and replicable strategies to address these concerns within the context of problem solving. The Critical Issues section can assist chief executives seeking to overcome potential barriers to implementation of problem solving.

The final section, Making POP Work, focuses on the daily practice of problem solving and advancing it to the next level. Articles in this section present such important issues as problem-oriented policing versus zero tolerance, how to evaluate problem-solving officers, and the application of problem solving for investigators. Combined, these articles respond to skeptics who question the efficacy of problem oriented policing.

This long-overdue text serves as a welcome addition to the law enforcement field. It provides information on several of the most recent and innovative problem-solving strategies employed by officers in the field. The Police Executive Research Forum offers this text as the first in a publication series that will highlight and document information shared at future annual International Problem Oriented Policing Conferences.

Problem-Oriented Policing provides a practical resource for many audiences. The text is well suited for basic police academy training, in-service officers engaging in problem solving, and as a required reading for promotional exams.