Chapter 7: Nominate your strategy
Abstract
Nominate strategy in the N component of the PANDA model. This chapter focuses on the VIPER structure for framing a cohesive crime reduction response. This framework (victim support, intelligence gaps, prevention, enforcement, and reassurance) is the central framework for operational strategies in the book. The chapter starts by arguing for the need for a mission statement related to the problem, and it provides a structure for this statement. It then discusses approaches to each component, with links where relevant to other chapters. Victim support enhances public cooperation, while filling intelligence gaps can improve knowledge around a crime problem and enhance future operational decision-making. Prevention and enforcement are commonly applied in policing, but reassurance is also worth investment because it can address the ‘reassurance gap’. Seeking help through hypothesis testing and using the wisdom of crowds can grow the range of VIPER options. An example mission statement and VIPER response, along with a bullet point summary, round out the chapter.
Headings and sub-headings
Define your mission statement
Nominating a VIPER strategy
Getting help with VIPER ideas
An example mission and VIPER response
Chapter summary
Additional links
The mission statement should be a statement about the crime reduction problem you are facing, and not a broader statement about overarching departmental goals. One way to keep it focused on the problem is the ROAM acronym. You are seeking a <response> in an <outcome> created by an <activity> that triggers a crime reduction <mechanism>.
In the area of victim support, the International Association of Chiefs of Police have an extensive website dedicated to enhancing law enforcement's victim response.
Your identification of intelligence gaps should flow from the sources identified in the book. They are useful for learning across a variety of domains, such as investigators working with analysts. and are one of the key reasons why analysts produce subject and problem profiles.
If you are interested in more than is provided in the box on Mano Dura, Insight Crime has a nice summary from December 2015 on the history of anti-gang strategies across the region.
If you google 'reassurance policing' most of the findings are academic studies. There is one evaluation that is not behind a paywall that provides some information on the UK program. Reassurance does feature in the IACP's guide to responding to hate crime.
Vignette author Tarrick McGuire is a member of the NIJ LEADS program.
Spencer Chainey, from the Jill Dando Institute, has a number of resources related to hypothesis testing.
Surowiecki's Wisdom of Crowds is a good read and available from Amazon, but there is also a sizable wikipedia page with related information.
Vignette authors
Tarrick McGuire
In addition to being a noted speaker and published author, Tarrick McGuire is a servant leader with over a decade of experience in public safety leadership. A native of Dallas, TX, Tarrick earned his Bachelor of Science Degree in Speech Communications from Oklahoma State University, a Master’s Degree in Christian Leadership from Criswell College and is currently pursuing a Doctorate Degree in Public Administration. From 2016-2017, Tarrick was assigned as a Law Enforcement Fellow with the International Association of Chiefs of Police contributing to public safety research and reform in Washington D.C. While there, he worked with the White House, Department of Justice and IACP on guiding police departments nationally on the implementation of 21st Century Policing. In 2016 he received the L. Anthony Sutin Civic Imagination Department of Justice Award for his work in improving Community-Police Relations and the Martin Luther King Jr. Award for Governmental Leadership.
Dave Spencer
Dave Spencer is a chief inspector seconded to the College of Policing organizational development faculty. He was previously an operational chief inspector with Northamptonshire Police.
You can follow Dave Spencer on twitter at @dave_spencer
Chapter-related review questions
Chapter 7: In the VIPER checklist, what does V refer to?
A. Violence
B. Victim support
C. Victimization
D. Value
Chapter 7: In the VIPER checklist, what does I refer to?
A. Information
B. Interpret
C. Intelligence gaps
D. Influence
Chapter 7: In the VIPER checklist, what does P refer to?
A. Police
B. Prevention
C. Proactive
D. Policing
Chapter 7: In the VIPER checklist, what does E refer to?
A. Enforcement
B. Explore
C. Examine
D. Expectation
Chapter 7: In the VIPER checklist, what does R refer to?
A. Routine activities
B. Reassess
C. Respond
D. Reassurance
Chapter 7: When treated with empathy, respect and sensitivity, crime victims are more likely to
A. Listen to crime prevention advice
B. Report positive perceptions of trust and confidence in the police
C. Cooperate with crime investigations
D. All of the above
Chapter 7: "Opportunities to speak out on specific case processing issues and larger policy questions" is which component of the seven critical areas of victim support according to the International Association of Chiefs of Police?
A. Information
B. Continuity
C. Voice
D. Safety
Chapter 7: From the beginning of modern policing, what has been the cornerstone of modern law enforcement philosophy?
A. Enforcement
B. Incarceration
C. Prosecution
D. Prevention
Chapter 7: Which country adopted a policy of Mano Dura (‘Iron Fist’) that some police officers blame for exacerbating the gang problem?
A. El Salvador
B. Nicaragua
C. Canada
D. Columbia
Chapter 7: Of the VIPER elements, which is "often a short-term, stop-gap measure that can become a significant resource drain that doesn’t address the underlying problem"?
A. Victim support
B. Intelligence gaps
C. Prevention
D. Enforcement
Chapter 7: "Crimes or deviant acts that breach not only criminal law but also our conventions about social order" are called what in the book?
A. Deviations
B. Signal crimes
C. Social dysfunction events
D. Deviation crimes
Chapter 7: Signal crimes can be what type of crime problem?
A. Crime panics
B. Chronic problems
C. Crime spikes
D. All of the above
Chapter 7: What were the results of the National Reassurance Policing Programme, at least across most of the sites?
A. Crime reduction but no change in perceived anti-social behavior
B. Improvements in perceived anti-social behavior, but no change in crime
C. Reductions in crime and perceptions of anti-social behavior
D. Worse crime and increased fear of crime
Chapter 7: "The aggregated perspective of diverse groups can frequently perform better than any of the individuals in the group" is an idea summarized in the book by what phrase?
A. Collective improvement
B. Signal behavior
C. Wisdom of crowds
D. Aggregate criminal behavior
Chapter 7: If you wish to tap into the wisdom of a crowd, you need a diversity of opinion, independence of perspective, decentralization, and what last item?
A. The three-i model
B. An aggregation process
C. A leader-driven process
D. A randomizer