Chasing ghosts? Police perception of high crime areas

Respectively School of Policing Studies, Charles Sturt University, NSW Police Academy, Goulburn, Australia; School of Geography, University of Nottingham, UK. In recent years there has been a move within police services towards a proactive and intelligence-led style of policing. This has coincided with a recognition of the value of local policing solutions and the importance of the intelligence function at the local area command level. This paper uses a combination of hotspot analysis within a geographical information system (GIS), a hotspot perception survey of police officers, and small focus groups to assess the intelligence dissemination process for high volume crime on three Nottinghamshire subdivisions. The results indicate a variable result depending on crime type explored and the study has implications for the dissemination of high volume crime intelligence within police services.