Which strategy focuses police resources on small areas with high crime levels?

• A. Broken windows policing
• B. Zero-tolerance policy
• C. Hot spots policing
• D. Spatial diffusion of crime control benefits

Answer: (C)

Hot spots policing is about directing police resources to small geographic areas that experience the highest crime levels, using crime data and mapping to identify these locations and then concentrating patrols, saturation policing, and problem-solving efforts there. The idea is that by focusing effort where crime is densest, officers can disrupt offenders and deter crime more efficiently than diffuse enforcement across larger areas.

This approach differs from broader strategies like broken windows policing, which emphasizes maintaining order by routinely addressing minor offenses across neighborhoods, not specifically targeting micro-areas with the most crime. It also differs from a zero-tolerance stance, which enforces strict penalties generally, rather than allocating intensity based on geographic crime concentration. Finally, it contrasts with the concept of spatial diffusion of crime control benefits, which is about how the effects of an intervention can spill over to nearby areas rather than how resources are allocated in the hottest crime zones.