title: The Uses and Impacts of Mobile Computing Technology in Hot Spots Policing.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Recent technological advances have much potential for improving police performance, but there has been little research testing whether they have made police more effective in reducing crime.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To study the uses and crime control impacts of mobile computing technology in the context of geographically focused "hot spots" patrols.
  
  
  METHODS
  An experiment was conducted using 18 crime hot spots in a suburban jurisdiction. Nine of these locations were randomly selected to receive additional patrols over 11 weeks. Researchers studied officers' use of mobile information technology (IT) during the patrols using activity logs and interviews. Nonrandomized subgroup and multivariate analyses were employed to determine if and how the effects of the patrols varied based on these patterns.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Officers used mobile computing technology primarily for surveillance and enforcement (e.g., checking automobile license plates and running checks on people during traffic stops and field interviews), and they noted both advantages and disadvantages to its use. Officers did not often use technology for strategic problem-solving and crime prevention. Given sufficient (but modest) dosages, the extra patrols reduced crime at the hot spots, but this effect was smaller in places where officers made greater use of technology.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Basic applications of mobile computing may have little if any direct, measurable impact on officers' ability to reduce crime in the field. Greater training and emphasis on strategic uses of IT for problem-solving and crime prevention, and greater attention to its behavioral effects on officers, might enhance its application for crime reduction.
authors.affiliation: Department of Criminology, Law and Society, Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA ckoper2@gmu.edu.
authors.forename: Christopher S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Koper
authors.affiliation: Department of Criminology, Law and Society, Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA.
authors.forename: Cynthia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Lum
authors.affiliation: Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, Carbondale, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Julie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hibdon
mesh_terms: D003415:Crime / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D035846:Law Enforcement; D008297:Male; D063731:Mobile Applications / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016495:Police / Q000458:organization & administration*; D015397:Program Evaluation; D012926:Social Control, Formal
keywords: experiment; hot spots; mobile computing; policing; technology