Police Foot Patrol and Crime Displacement

• Author: Martin A. Andresen,Nicolas Malleson
• DOI: 10.1177/1043986214525076
• Published date: 01 May 2014
• Date: 01 May 2014
• Subject Matter: Articles

Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice

2014, Vol. 30(2) 186 –199

© 2014 SAGE Publications

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DOI: 10.1177/1043986214525076

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Article

Police Foot Patrol and

Crime Displacement: A

Local Analysis

Martin A. Andresen1 and Nicolas Malleson2

Abstract

Police patrol, motorized and foot, has a long history of being used as a crime

prevention method. Scientific evaluations of this crime prevention technique have

been undertaken for at least 40 years, with mixed results. One of the important

questions to be answered regarding the implementation of a police patrol is the

presence of crime displacement: criminal activity simply moving around the corner,

away from the primary patrol area. Previous investigations of this phenomenon

have found that, most often, crime displacement is nonexistent or less than crime

reductions in the primary area of interest. In this article, we investigate local crime

displacement. We use a spatial point pattern test that can identify changes in the

spatial patterns/distribution of crime even if crime in all areas has decreased. We find

moderate evidence for the presence of this spatial shift and discuss the implications.

Keywords

policing, crime hot spots, police patrol, crime displacement, spatial point pattern test

Introduction

Police foot patrol is a method used as an attempt to reduce crime and disorder. The

theoretical expectation of an increased police presence would be crime reductions

because of an increase in perceived risk by offenders. However, as reviewed below,

though recent research has found a positive effect from police foot patrol (reductions

in criminal activity), the history of this literature has been far from consistent. In an era

1Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

2University of Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK

Corresponding Author:

Martin A. Andresen, Associate Professor, School of Criminology, Institute for Canadian Urban Research

Studies, Simon Fraser University, 8888 University Drive, Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6, Canada.

Email: andresen@sfu.ca

525076CCJXXX10.1177/1043986214525076Journal of Contemporary Criminal JusticeAndresen and Malleson

research-article2014