Factors that Facilitate and Hinder Implementation of a Problem Oriented Policing Intervention in Crime Hot Spots: Suggestions to Improve Implementation Based on a Field Experiment

• Published date: 01 March 2025
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/10986111241257879
• Author: Kristin J. Ward,Jane Yoo,Weiwei Liu,Jackie Sheridan-Johnson,Bruce G. Taylor
• Date: 01 March 2025
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Police Quarterly

2025, Vol. 28(1) 127–153

© The Author(s) 2024

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DOI: 10.1177/10986111241257879

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Factors that Facilitate and

Hinder Implementation of a

Problem Oriented Policing

Intervention in Crime Hot

Spots: Suggestions to Improve

Implementation Based on a

Field Experiment

Kristin J. Ward

1

, Jane Yoo

2

, Weiwei Liu

3

,

Jackie Sheridan-Johnson

3

, and Bruce G. Taylor

3



Abstract

The problem-oriented policing (POP) and hot spots literatures have more recently

noted the need for implementation studies to understand what and how im-

plementation could be improved to ensure the greatest impact of these policing

approaches. However, there are limited empirical studies on implementation of POP

and/or hot spots policing, and there appears to be limited empirical evidence of factors

that facilitate or hinder implementation of such policing approaches. Therefore, this

study is timely for contributing to the understanding of implementation drivers that

help ensure proper installment of policing approaches for desired impact, sustainability,

and spread. Our analysis of qualitative data resulted in an empirically derived model that

identif‌ies multiple factors within f‌ive levels: society, system, community, organization

and individual. Each level contains a set of factors that either facilitated or hindered

implementation of the interventions that we tested. These factors include but are not

limited to society’s perceptions of police off‌icers (police legitimacy), justice systems’

1

Clarus Research, Washington, DC, USA

2

Clarus Research, Kaunakakai, HI, USA

3

Department of Public Health, National Opinion Research Center, Bethesda, MD, USA

Corresponding Author:

Kristin J. Ward, Clarus Research, Washington, DC 20002, USA.

Email: kristin@clarusresearch.org

diversion policies, community support of police agencies, leadership/supervisor support

of POP and hot spots policing, organizational resources, and individual characteristics of

police off‌icers. Our model describes that these factors interact to ultimately inf‌luence

patrol off‌icers’motivation to implement POP in crime hot spots, and that their mo-

tivation leads to varying degrees of implementation. As a result of this study, we offer

implementation science-informed practical actions for police agencies to achieve

stronger implementation of nontraditionalpolicing practices. Theseactions can be tested

to understand if they have signif‌icant and positiveimpact on crime and other outcomes.

Keywords

hot spots policing, problem oriented policing, implementation factors, implementation

science, qualitative methods

Purpose

This article describes a randomized controlled trial (RCT) study that tested problem-

oriented policing (POP) and hot spots policing approaches in crime hot spots while also

examining the implementation of these approaches. The study component that focused

on the implementation of these approaches is presented in greater detail to explain study

f‌indings of factors that facilitated and hindered implementation of POP in crime hot

spots. The article contributes to the POP and hot spots policing literatures where there is

growing discussion of implementation issues around these approaches yet little em-

pirical evidence to guide deeper discourse on this important topic (Ariel, 2022;

Sherman et al., 2014).

Understanding facilitating factors and barriers to implementation is critical to ensure

proper installment of policing approaches for desired impact, sustainability, and spread.

This is especially important given current events and movements (e.g., Black Lives

Matter and Defund the Police), as well as broad support for police reform, that

challenge law enforcement to practice differently. With public perceptions of the police

declining (Brenan, 2020), practicing law enforcement differently seems more necessary

than ever. To get there, breaking through implementation barriers to have effective

policing approaches in place seems urgent.

Background

The evidence in favor of problem-oriented policing (POP) and hot spots policing as

complementary approaches is relatively abundant (e.g., Braga & Bond, 2008;Braga &

Weisburd, 2010;Taylor et al., 2010) and suggests that such approaches hold more

promise over the traditional model of policing (Braga et al., 2001,2012,2019;Hinkle

et al., 2020;Scott & Clarke, 2020;Sherman & Weisburd, 1995;Skogan & Frydl, 2004;

Weisburd et al., 2008;Weisburd & Magmundar, 2017;Weisburd & Telep, 2014).

128 Police Quarterly 28(1)