Factors that Facilitate and Hinder Implementation of a Problem Oriented Policing Intervention in Crime Hot Spots: Suggestions to Improve Implementation Based on a Field Experiment.

This article focuses on a study examining the implementation of problem-oriented policing (POP) combined with hot spots policing in crime hot spots across three Mid-Atlantic U.S. cities. Despite evidence supporting the effectiveness of POP and hot spots policing, the study found low levels of actual implementation by patrol officers, which corresponded with no significant reductions in crime. Through qualitative analysis, the researchers identified multiple interacting factors influencing implementation at five nested levels: societal (e.g., national police reform movements and the COVID-19 pandemic), systems (e.g., youth diversion policies), community (e.g., community support and willingness to engage), organizational (e.g., leadership buy-in, supervision, and resource constraints), and individual (e.g., officers' innate qualities and motivation). The study offers an empirically derived model highlighting how these factors affect officer motivation and proposes practical, implementation science-informed actions for police agencies to enhance adoption and fidelity of POP in hot spots, emphasizing the need for pre-implementation planning and ongoing support to overcome barriers.