Place-Based Policing

Definition of Place

Place has a very specific definition in crime theory. A place is a geographic location that is often a specific street address, such as a residence, a business like a bar, or a school. In terms of size, a place may be a slightly larger geographic area like a street corner, intersection, or block; occasionally a place may be as large as an apartment complex or small shopping center. A place is not so large as a police beat or a neighborhood.

The precise specification and size of a problem place varies in different settings and for different problems; the appropriate size is the smallest geographic area in which crime is concentrated and ownership established. Thus, while the actual size of a crime place will vary, it is essential to understand that a crime place is a very distinct location representing a very small geographic area; it is sometimes known as a “micro” place.

Importance of Place

Most police are keenly aware of place. Patrol officers are dispatched to specific places; provided a physical street address by a dispatcher, they drive to that location and record it on an incident report. Indeed, a patrol officer who returns again and again to the same address has a heightened awareness of problem places.

In contrast to problem places, areas in which crime clusters are often known as hot spots. Like problem places, hot spots represent the geographic areas in which offenses occur, and occur repeatedly. But, while hot spots are often considered general areas such as a neighborhood, they contain specific locations or places in which crime is even more concentrated. It is the recurrence of crime at places—a phenomenon known as repeat victimization—that actually creates a hot spot. A specific house or business that is victimized once is likely to be victimized again; the resultant accumulation of crime at places transforms the larger area into a full-blown hot spot.

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