Evaluating a Place-Based Intervention to Reduce Violent Crime

From 2004 to 2006, the city of Boston experienced notable increases in violent crime, especially robberies and assaults committed with guns. The majority of the violence was concentrated in disadvantaged, predominately minority neighborhoods. In December 2006, Edward Davis was appointed Commissioner of the Boston Police Department (BPD); he immediately set about addressing the spike in violent crime. Commissioner Davis developed the Safe Street Team (SST) strategy through which police officer teams were assigned to 13 different violent crime hot spots. The SSTs applied problem-oriented, community-policing strategies to identify and address recurring problems in their target areas.

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Author: Anthony A. Braga, Edward F. Davis, and Michael D. White

Federal Sponsor Agency: BJA

Provider: Smart Policing Initiative

Publication Date: 2012