— it <br /> Center for Problem - Oriented Policing Page 1 of 2 <br /> *,' Center for Problem - Oriented Policing a <br /> .:� y : , in - ;7 , 11 About Pop center i.cr. I -c: <br /> pop Center : About POP Center : Situational Crime Prevention <br /> Situational Crime Prevention <br /> 7 2 About POP Center <br /> While the Problem Analysis Triangle helps to analyze problems, situational crime prevention I what, is Problem <br /> provides a framework for intervention. By assessing the opportunities that specific situations ' Oriented Policing? <br /> offer for crime, situational crime prevention has identified five main ways in which situations 1..._ History of Problem - <br /> can be modified. These are: Oriented .._. g <br /> - Key elements of P01 <br /> • Increasing the effort the offender must make to carry out the crime. - The SARA _ Model . <br /> - The Problem Analysi <br /> • Increasing the risks the offender must face in completing the crime. Triangle <br /> L Situational Crim. <br /> • Reducing the rewards or benefits the offender expects to obtain from the crime. Prevention <br /> • Removing excuses that offenders may use to "rationalize" or justify their actions. <br /> • Reducing or avoiding provocations that may tempt or incite offenders into criminal acts. <br /> These five approaches to reducing opportunity can be expanded to list 25 techniques of situational crime prevention. <br /> To review the 25 techniques of situational crime prevention click here. <br /> These techniques have been constructed according to two important theoretical premises: that "opportunity makes the <br /> thief" (opportunity theory) and that the offender (or would -be offender) makes choices (rational choice theory) in order to <br /> make the best of those opportunities. <br /> The 10 principles of crime opportunity <br /> 1. Opportunities play a role in causing all crime, not just common property crime — For example, studies of bars and i <br /> show how their design and management play an important role in generating violence or preventing it. <br /> 2. Crime opportunities are highly specific — For example the theft of cars for joyriding has a different pattern of <br /> opportunity than theft for car parts. Crime opportunity theory helps sort out these differences so responses can be <br /> appropriately tailored. <br /> 3. Crime opportunities are concentrated in time and space — Dramatic differences are found from one address to anol <br /> even in a high crime area. Crime shifts greatly by the hour and day of the week, reflecting the opportunities to carry <br /> out (see Routine Activity Theory). <br /> 4. Crime opportunities depend on everyday movements of activity — Offenders and targets shift according to routine <br /> activities (e.g. work, school, leisure). For example burglars visit houses in the day when the occupants are out at we <br /> school. <br /> 5. One crime produces the opportunities for another — For example, a successful break -in may encourage the offende <br /> return in the future or a youth who has his bike stolen may feel justified in taking someone else's as a replacement. <br /> 6. Some products offer more tempting crime opportunities — For example easily carried electrical items such as DVD <br /> players and mobile phones are attractive to burglars and robbers, ( 'hot products'.) <br /> 7. Social and technological changes produce new crime opportunities — Products are most vulnerable in their 'growth <br /> 'mass marketing' stages, as demand for them is at its highest. Most products will reach a 'saturation' stage where m <br /> people have them and they then are unlikely to be stolen. <br /> 8. Crime can be prevented by reducing opportunities — The opportunity reducing methods of situational crime prevei <br /> http:// www. popcenter .org/about- situational.htm 11/9/2004 <br />