Police Community SARA Model

Police Community SARA Model

In Chapter 4 – Problem Solving:  Proactive Policing, we learned that problem-solving policing requires police to group incidents and identify the underlying causes of problems in the community.

The first step in problem solving is to group incidents as problems.  The four stages of the SARA problem-solving model are scanning, analysis, response, and assessment.

Problem analysis consider the individuals involved, the incidents, and the responses.

What Would You Do?

For years, a convenience store across the street from a high school had been a magnet for high school students during the three lunch periods at the open-campus school.  The store complained of disturbances, thefts, and intimidation of customers. Other businesses complained about “spillover” from student gatherings that affected their businesses.  The grocery store experienced shoplifting, the dry cleaner had students smoking in the back of his building; and they all complained about drug sales at the bus stop at that intersection.

Nearby residential neighbors complained about cigarette butts and empty soda cans littering their yards after lunch each day.  Everyone disliked the loud music played on car stereos throughout the lunch periods.  Every day, one or more people called the police department to complain.  And every day the police department dispatched one or two squad cars.

Often the squads reported everything was quiet when they arrived.  Lunchtime had ended, and the students had returned to school  Or if there was still a problem, the students scattered when they saw the police, and no action was necessary.  Nearly every school day, for years, these same calls came into the police department.  The police response was polite and quick.  By police department standards, the police response was efficient.  By neighborhood standards, the police response was completely ineffective