60 Steps Revisited: Step 42- Reduce Provocations

Back in 2009, I did a series of posts covering the excellent book Crime Analysis For Problem Solvers. The book is published by the US DOJ's Problem Oriented Policing Center (POP Center). Because of the value I think this book has for crime analysts, and policing in general, I am going to re-post this series on here on the blog.

In this post in our journey through Crime Analysis for Problem Solvers, we're up to Step 42- Reduce provocations. A few chapters back, in Step 38, we saw that there were 25 techniques of situational crime prevention that were divided up into these five categories:

1. Increasing the effort of crime
2. Increasing the risks
3. Reducing the rewards
4. Reducing provocations
5. Removing excuses

Sometimes crimes and disorder occur because of provocation. If you walked into a biker bar and shouted something rude about bikers' mothers to the assembled multitude you probably shouldn't be surprised if you get thumped by some hairy tattoo'd guy wearing a leather vest and motorcycle boots. Not all provocations are quite as obvious as this, but you get the point. 

The authors suggest a number of broad ways to reduce provocation. They are:

• Reduce frustration and stress
• Avoid disputes
• Reduce arousal and temptation
• Neutralize peer pressure
• Discourage imitation

Examine your crime problem for a provocative trigger. If you can reduce or mitigate this provocation, your problem might be reduced. 

Next time, we'll look at Step 43 - Remove excuses for crime.