City government as super-controller: A systematic review of non-police mechanisms that city governments can apply to reduce crime at hot spots

Abstract

Place-based policing is effective, but the police do not have all the tools needed to solve complex crime problems and certain policing strategies may increase the risk of disparate impacts to members of marginalized communities. However, local governments—acting in their role as a “super-controller,” can incentivize and support the natural crime-control system of place managers, handlers, and guardians to act to prevent crime at hot spots, whether or not the police are involved. This paper examines a body of evidence from 44 studies on the effectiveness of local government-led and initiated non-police interventions at crime hot spots, finding that local governments can successfully capitalize on the concentration of crime at hot spots and direct its myriad non-police resources to help prevent crime from occurring at these places. The paper concludes with three themes that have both practical and research implications for local governments as super-controllers at crime hot spots: 1) support systematic hot spot problem-solving, 2) examine the threshold of effective deterrence, and 3) ensure rigorous evaluation.