Special to WorldTribune.com

JERUSALEM — Israel has developed a formula to increase urban
security.

David Weisburd, a professor at Hebrew University’s Jerusalem Institute
of Criminology, completed a 16-year study in cooperation with the U.S. city
of Seattle, Wash. to understand trends in urban crime.

“With concentrated policing in those identified hot spots, officers can
act as guardians to deter criminal behavior, but when police resources are spread across larger jurisdictions, this deterrence is likely to be watered down,” Weisburd said.

The study concluded that police enforcement could reduce crime at
so-called “hot spots” without forcing offenders to other areas of the city. Weisburd, who received the Stockholm Prize in Criminology, asserted that half of all the crime in Seattle took place in six percent of city streets.

The trend was similar to Israel’s largest city, Tel Aviv, in which five
percent of city streets contain 50 percent of crime. The study focused on streets with high crime rates rather than offenders or their communities.

“Opportunities for crime as reflected by motivated offenders and the
presence of suitable targets, as well as conditions of social distress, are
key predictors of crime hot spots,” Weisburd said.

Researchers said hot spot policing was being adopted by Western forces.
In 2011, Israeli police began a hot spots program in an effort to reduce
urban crime.

  Hebrew University, Israel and Seattle researched ‘hot spots’ for reducing urban crime, Stockholm Prize in Criminology, Tel Aviv