Citation

Uchida CD, Swatt ML. Police Q. 2013; 16(3): 287-304.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1098611113497044

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Operation LASER (Los Angeles' Strategic Extraction and Restoration program) is a program conducted by the Los Angeles Police Department Newton Division to reduce gun violence as part of the Smart Policing Initiative. There are two components to this operation: a chronic offender component and a chronic location component. In the current study, the effectiveness of Operation LASER was assessed at the reporting district (RD) level using a panel design. Initial results indicated that there was a significant reduction in gun crime in RDs in Newton compared to RDs from other divisions. The treatment effect was decomposed into RDs that received both the chronic offender and chronic location components and that received only the chronic offender component. Results suggested that the reduction in gun crime was only observed in those RDs receiving both the chronic offender and location components. Implications of the current study for policy are then discussed.

Language: en