Hot spot policing: A study of place-based strategies for crime prevention

Abstract

Hot spot policing is a popular policing strategy that addresses crime by assigning limited police resources to areas where crimes are more highly concentrated. We analyze this strategy using a game theoretic approach. The main argument against focusing police resources on hot spots is that it would simply displace criminal activity from one area to another. We provide new insights on the nature of the displacement effect with useful implications for the empirical analysis of crime-reduction effects of police reallocation. We also propose alternative placebased policies that display attractive properties in terms of geographic spillovers of crime reduction via optimal police reallocation.