Operation LASER and the Effectiveness of Hotspot Patrol: A Panel Analysis
| Author | Marc L. Swatt,Craig D. Uchida |
| DOI | 10.1177/1098611113497044 |
| Published date | 01 September 2013 |
| Date | 01 September 2013 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
Police Quarterly
16(3) 287–304
Operation LASER and
! The Author(s) 2013
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DOI: 10.1177/1098611113497044
Hotspot Patrol: A
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Panel Analysis
Craig D. Uchida1 and Marc L. Swatt2
Abstract
Operation LASER (Los Angeles’ Strategic Extraction and Restoration program) is a
program conducted by the Los Angeles Police Department Newton Division to
reduce gun violence as part of the Smart Policing Initiative. There are two compo-
nents to this operation: a chronic offender component and a chronic location com-
ponent. In the current study, the effectiveness of Operation LASER was assessed at
the reporting district (RD) level using a panel design. Initial results indicated that
there was a significant reduction in gun crime in RDs in Newton compared to RDs
from other divisions. The treatment effect was decomposed into RDs that received
both the chronic offender and chronic location components and that received only
the chronic offender component. Results suggested that the reduction in gun crime
was only observed in those RDs receiving both the chronic offender and location
components. Implications of the current study for policy are then discussed.
Keywords
police effectiveness, crime hotspots, problem-oriented policing, smart policing
Introduction
Like most law enforcement agencies in the country, the Los Angeles Police
Department (LAPD) has experienced a lengthy period where crime has
decreased. From 1992 to 2012, the number of Part 1 crimes has gone down by
1Justice & Security Strategies, Inc., Silver Spring, MD, USA
2Justice & Security Strategies, Inc., Omaha, NE, USA
Corresponding author:
Craig D. Uchida, Justice & Security Strategies, Inc., PO Box 6188, Silver Spring, MD 20916, USA.
Email: cduchida@jssinc.org
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Police Quarterly 16(3)
almost 70%, with violent crime decreasing by 78%. Homicides, for example,
have decreased citywide from 1,092 in 1992 to 298 in 2012, a decrease of nearly
73%. Nationally, the decline is less steep but nonetheless noteworthy. Cooper
and Smith (2011) indicate that the homicide rate declined from 9.3 homicides per
100,000 in 1992 to 4.8 homicides per 100,000 in 2010.
These unprecedented declines have led to speculation that increased incarcer-
ation, proactive policing, the improved economy, and more cops on the street
are the forces behind the crime drop. While these declines cannot be attributed to
a single cause, there are interventions that have had impacts on violence reduc-
tion. Notably, in Boston, Indianapolis, Lowell, and elsewhere, “lever pulling”
has reduced homicide and gang-related violence (Braga, Kennedy, Waring, &
Piehl, 2001; Braga, Pierce, McDevitt, Bond, & Cronin, 2008; McGarrell,
Chermak, Wilson, & Cosaro, 2006). Similarly, agencies that have focused on
hotspots or chronic locations have also seen a decline in violence (Braga, 2010;
Braga, Papachristos, & Hureau, 2012).
These two strategies—focusing on offenders and focusing on locations—are
the mainstays for a program in Los Angeles known as Operation LASER (Los
Angeles’ Strategic Extraction and Restoration). This program, funded through
the Bureau of Justice Assistance, U.S. Department of Justice, was part of the
Smart Policing Initiative, a national effort to enhance problem-solving meth-
ods, use data and analysis, and evaluate the interventions. The LAPD engaged
in both approaches in one division using a problem-oriented policing
approach. This article describes Operation LASER, its theoretical and research
base, and its implementation and effects on violent crime in one division of the
LAPD.
Background
The LAPD consists of nearly 10,000 officers and 3,500 civilians covering 469
square miles and more than 3.8 million people. To police this large and diverse
city, the department is decentralized into four bureaus—Central, South, Valley,
and West. Within the four bureaus are 21 areas or divisions with captains who
have administrative and strategic control over patrol, investigations, gang units,
parole compliance units, crime analysts, records, and other functions. At the
division level, the areas are divided into reporting districts (RDs), which are
similar to geographic police beats. In the LAPD, the 21 divisions include
1,135 RDs or on average about 54 RDs per division. At the department level,
other Divisions support, assist, and enhance the decentralized divisions. For
example, the Real-time Analysis Critical Response Division (RACR) houses
state-of-the-art technology and operates as a 24/7 emergency operations center
where resources, situation status of the city, and developing tactical incidents are
tracked. Additionally, RACR personnel are responsible for Compstat and data
analysis.
Uchida and Swatt
289
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
Figure 1. Number of gun-related crimes, LAPD divisions, 2011.
Operation LASER
In 2011, there were 7,794 gun-related crimes throughout the City of Los Angeles.
Figure 1 shows the top generators of gun violence across the city. Four admin-
istrative divisions—77th Street, Southeast, Newton, and Southwest accounted
for 43% of gun crimes in 2011. Additional analysis demonstrated that gun
crimes were concentrated in a small number of RDs. About 6% of these RDs
accounted for 30% of the gun-related crimes in the city, and a number of these
violent RDs were concentrated in and around the four divisions of 77th Street,
Southeast, Newton, and Southwest.
The Newton Division, which has a population of about 150,000 and covers
9 square miles, experienced the third highest number of gun crimes among the 21
LAPD divisions. In addition to experiencing a disproportionate number of gun
crimes, Newton was selected as the Smart Policing site because of the prevalence
of gang activity in the division. Gangs have been active in the area for more than
40 years, beginning with the Crips and Bloods in the 1970s and continuing with
Hispanic gangs such as Primera Flats, 38th Street, Playboys, and others. In 2011,
the LAPD documented 44 active gangs in the Newton Division. Last, Newton
was selected because the area had been given little research attention in the past
and because the recently promoted captain was receptive to using data to drive
decision making.
Scanning and Analysis. In order to identify specific areas for intervention, LAPD
crime analysts in Newton and RACR, along with the research partner, analyzed
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Police Quarterly 16(3)
crime data to identify the top locations of gun violence in Newton Division.
Analysts examined crime incident and arrest data, as well as calls for police
service, over a 6-year period (2006–2011). Specifically, the team focused on
any Part I or Part II crime and arrest that involved a firearm including drive-
by shootings, shots fired, robberies, aggravated assaults, homicides, gang-related
crime (with a firearm), drug offenses with a gun, vandalism with a gun, and so
on. For calls for service, the team developed a rigorous protocol that flagged
calls for crimes as well as incident code descriptions that included “shot” or
“gun” in the text fields.
The team of analysts then used spatial analysis (in ESRI’s ArcView) to create
hotspot/density maps of the locations of gun crimes for each year. The 6-year
location-based analysis resulted in the identification of five large “hot corridors,”
shown in Figure 2 (the four narrow rectangular boxed areas and the wider
rectangular boxed area).1 From left to right, the first four hot corridors are
business corridors along major arteries in Newton: Broadway, Main, Avalon,
and Central Avenues. The fifth, larger hot corridor is designated as a
Community Law Enforcement and Recovery Program or “CLEAR” area. In
1995, the city of Los Angeles identified a total of nine CLEAR sites based on the
level of gang activity, and since that time, these areas have received additional
community and law enforcement resources. In order to leverage existing
resources, the team decided to adopt the already identified CLEAR boundary
for the fifth hot corridor.
Response—Operation LASER. Once the scanning and analysis phases were com-
pleted, the team designed and implemented their response called Los Angeles’
Strategic Extraction and Restoration Program, or Operation LASER. Operation
LASER has five primary goals:
. Extract offenders from specific neighborhoods and areas
. Restore peace to neighborhoods and communities
. Remove the anonymity of gun offenders
. Remove the anonymity of gang members
. Reduce gun and gang-related crime in Newton Division
LASER is grounded in situational and environmental theories of crime
(see, e.g., Brantingham & Brantingham, 1999; Cohen & Felson, 1979; Felson,
2002). The basic premise is to target violent repeat offenders and gang members
who commit crimes in the specific target areas with “laser-like precision,” analo-
gous to laser surgery, where a trained medical doctor uses modern technology to
remove tumors or improve eyesight. First, the area is carefully diagnosed—who
are the offenders, and where and when are they involved in criminal activity?
Plans are then developed to remove offenders, from an area, while minimizing
the disruption and harm to the larger community. Extraction of offenders takes
Uchida and Swatt
291
Figure 2. Newton Division hotspots of gun-related crimes, 2011.
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Police Quarterly 16(3)
place in a “non-invasive” manner (no task forces or saturation patrol activities),
and the result produces less disruption of neighborhoods by police. Continuing
with the medical analogy, by...
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