Author: Door van der Wiele, Editor at the Centre for Crime Prevention and Security
Edited by: Paul van Soomeren, DSP-Groep (DSP), Bianca Kreuning, DSP-Groep (DSP) and Dr Dagmar Heinrich, University of Salford (USAL)
High Impact Crime (HIC) such as domestic burglary and (street) robberies have significant consequences for the victims and create feelings of insecurity in society.
In the past decade, considerably fewer burglaries and (street) robberies were committed in the Netherlands than in the previous decades. This nationwide declining trend in the Netherlands is good news. But this decline is not apparent everywhere in the country.
Three articles in the Secondant1 cover this topic:
Secondant: Ook een geslaagde HIC-aanpak vergt onderhoud (ccv-secondant.nl) (Dutch)
Preventive measures that are effective against High Impact Crimes must receive constant attention and energy. A new manual for a problem-oriented approach has been developed for people with one foot in daily crime prevention and the other in policy.
In the past decade, considerably fewer burglaries, robberies and street robberies have been committed in the Netherlands than in the previous decades. These forms of crime have significant consequences for the victims and create feelings of insecurity in society. This influences citizens' trust in society and specifically in the police and the judiciary. That is why these three crime types are known as High Impact Crimes (HIC).
PREVENTIVE AND REPRESSIVE
This nationwide declining trend in the Netherlands is good news, but the decline is not visible everywhere in the country. There are still concerning clusters. Focused attention remains necessary to address the problems. As part of the European project Cutting Crime Impact, the manual Problem-oriented approach to High Impact Crime2 was developed. This manual brings together (inter-) national knowledge and experience in the field of HIC. The manual explains how these forms of crime can be tackled effectively and in a problem-oriented way. The approach combines preventive and repressive means, and the measures are aimed at victims, offenders and situations.
The paradox of an effective approach is that even successful projects can suddenly be forgotten. A successful approach also requires maintenance. In practice, when a crime problem is reduced to an acceptable level, attention often drifts away from policy and implementation, and budgets are cut. There is a good chance that after a while the problems reappear in full force.
Examples include the approach to robberies of entrepreneurs, the approach to violence against public officials and the approach to burglary. Effective measures should receive continued attention and energy and be adjusted or even amplified over time. It is the responsibility of local, regional and national governments to ensure that successful preventive policies continue. For example, with incentive grants for successful preventive policies, publications in professional journals or sharing knowledge about approaches that work.
SARA
The method in the manual is similar to the SARA approach: Scanning, Analysis, Response, Assessment. It starts with looking broadly at signals; what is happening in the field of HIC? Priorities are set, followed by an in-depth analysis for a better view of causes and backgrounds. Subsequently, solutions and measures can be sought together with other stakeholders. These are laid down in a plan of action which can then be implemented. Afterwards, an evaluation will examine what has been done and to what extent the measures have been successful.
DIVERSITY AND COOPERATION
The manual Problem-Oriented approach to High Impact Crime describes how the local triangle, police, municipality and Public Prosecutor’s Office (OM), together with citizens and entrepreneurs, can tackle these types of crime in a practical way. The manual focuses primarily on professionals who are well versed in both implementation and policy.
Practice often proves turbulent. To tackle High Impact crimes, various organisations have to work together that have (partly) similar interests. But those interests can also differ, as can their corporate culture and structure. Authority over the police about public order rests with the mayor, and the Public Prosecutor’s Office is responsible for criminal law enforcement. The Public Prosecutor’s Office mainly works in an offender-oriented way, from a criminal law point of view, and is therefore reactive and repressive. The police are responsible for safety, security, crime prevention and tackling crime under the authority of the mayor and the Public Prosecutor. The emphasis of police work is on "doing" and "catching crooks". As chairman of the triangle, the mayor is responsible for an integrated approach.
Of course, the local triangle is not only about authority relationships; there is also cooperation. Each partner has its own tasks and its own DNA. These differences provide strength for integrated cooperation, but they can also cause problems. Ultimately, these three organisations – police, public prosecutor and municipality – work with and for local institutions, companies and citizens. Together they define the focus of the types of crime to be tackled in an action plan. In this action plan, they jointly name the goals, measures and preconditions, and they also already consider the evaluation. All stakeholders from the triangle, and the social partners, must be able to identify with the parts of the action plan in which they participate. It is important to work in a problem or crime-oriented manner.
PEARLS OF KNOWLEDGE
There is a lot of knowledge available about the approach of HIC. The Netherlands has has tried and tested a plethora of HIC approaches, from the Top600 approach to the intervention in the robbery of delivery drivers, and from body cams to ‘Crookproof’3 . The 200+ pearls of knowledge that Jaap de Waard of the Ministry of Justice has sent (almost) daily since March 2020, include evidence-based meta evaluations. These can also contribute to more effective policy.
The authors of the manual offer extensive practical examples for inspiration. Gouda, for instance, struggled with burglaries for years. In 2016, Gouda had the highest burglary risk in the Netherlands with 20 in 1,000 homes, more than twice as high as the average. To tackle this huge problem, the new team management of the Gouda police team focused on a reduction of the number of burglaries in collaboration with, among others, the municipality, housing associations, youth workers and residents. They used the problem-oriented approach The Best of Three Worlds, also described and explained in the manual.
The package of measures focused on offenders, victims and the physical environment. The offender-oriented measures included a ‘Top Offender approach’, tackling criminal families and preventing new recruits. Victim-oriented measures were, for example, residents' meetings, neighbourhood ‘patrol-fathers’ and a member of the community. Concerning the physical environment, for example, subsidy measures were created for burglary-resistant measures. The number of burglaries fell from 20 to 8 burglaries per 1,000 homes. In that process, the nuisance from young people also decreased significantly.
Download the ProHIC manual on www.ProHIC.nl (in Dutch).
A new version of the manual will be published in Dutch and English later this year.
For further information contact Paul van Soomeren or Bram van Dijk via: [email protected].
1. Secondant is a professional magazine about crime prevention and social safety. The Secondant is hosted by the Center for Crime Prevention and Security in the Netherland (CCV).
2. In Dutch. A new version of the manual will be published in Dutch and English at the end of 2021.
3. Boefproof: a campaign to make mobile phones worthless to thieves, by utilising tracking apps and disabling functions.
