New guidelines on tackling crime through ‘problem oriented policing’
Chief officers across England and Wales now have access to new guidelines that support problem-solving and aim to tackle a decades old issue in the service, the College of Policing said today (October 4).
Traditionally, policing responses are mostly reactive, responding to problems as they happen. ‘Problem oriented policing’ is an alternative approach that involves being proactive rather than reactive – identifying and responding to problems before they result in crime and disorder.
The College of Policing says it has published guidelines in one place so that chief officers can enable problem-solving to “flourish in their force” using a set of evidence-based guidelines for areas that are important to the public.
The guidelines are also accompanied by additional resources that focus on problem solving and areas such as homicide; knife crime; a seven-step guide for reducing serious violence; and understanding communities to build trust.
The guidelines will be used by policing to implement ‘problem oriented policing’ into the service.
Frank Pike, College of Policing’s policing standards lead on crime prevention, said: “The guidelines support forces to use problem-solving more consistently, so it becomes embedded across the service.”
“We know that problem solving is an effective way of tackling crime and our guidance is designed so that officers and staff can incorporate it into their own local strategies to keep the public safe,” he said.
“Problem-oriented policing, or otherwise known as problem-solving policing, has been a feature of British policing for around 40 years and evidence shows that, when used, it is effective in tackling crime and disorder.”
The guidelines were created by serving officers and staff, a College of Policing team, subject matter experts and academics.
The guidelines can be accessed through the College of Policing website.