Eric Piza
Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice, John Jay College of Criminal Justice
Key Findings
- Foot-patrol is an effective crime prevention tactic for street violence, murder, shootings and non-domestic aggravated assaults.
- Police should design large-scale foot-patrol initiatives in ways that do not allow offenders to easily identify alternate crime opportunities.
Description
Incorporating a quasi-experimental design, this study evaluated a saturation foot-patrol initiative in Newark, New Jersey within a target area, a surrounding catchment area and two separate control areas. Violent crime was measured one year before the experiment and during the initiative. The authors found that foot-patrol can serve as an effective crime prevention tactic as street violence, murder, shootings and non-domestic aggravated assault decreased within the target area. The study also found that during the saturation foot-patrol initiative, robbery suffered from substantial levels of temporal and spatial displacement, having varying impact on different types of street violence. The authors suggest that police should design large-scale foot-patrol efforts in ways that do not allow offenders to notice the intervention and identify alternate crime opportunities.