Problem Solving Seminar

Paul Ekblom – Home Office

Key points from the presentation

Paul Ekblom and Andrew Kent from the Home Office, and Barbara White (a Crime Reduction Officer) and Constable Ian Williams (a Community Beat Officer) with Hampshire Police, hosted the workshop. Using a case study of Anti-social behaviour (ASB) and its prevention through the 'Moonshine' initiative in Hampshire, they described the 5Is approach to problem solving.
Paul Ekblom explained that the 5Is, which represent Intelligence, Intervention, Involvement, Implementation and Impact is a problem solving method which serves the same purpose as the SARA problem solving tool, but offers a more in-depth approach. It breaks down the Response part of SARA and also addresses costs in a specific way.
The limitations of crime prevention initiatives completed using SARA and other problem solving models were outlined, key amongst these was that, in his opinion, they resulted in vague aims for projects resulting in a lack of innovation and poor evaluation. The 5Is provide a set of more detailed, generic principles to address these matters.
Paul Ekblom described all 5 areas of the model in detail and invited questions from the audience.

Key points from the discussion

The model was not as complex as first thought.
They believed it would focus attention both on what is and is not working in an initiative.
Discussions revealed another consideration, risk assessment, which could be subsumed into the main headings.

Key points from the workshop

The 5Is provide a less superficial approach to crime prevention initiatives and offer a wider agenda of benefits to society and the individual, with the emphasis not only on 'getting the numbers down'.
The 5Is offer a more detailed approach to problem solving with useful sub headings or considerations around the 5 main principles.
Project management and evaluation is built into the model with constant loop back, so ensuring it is an ongoing process rather than being completed at the end; this encourages sustainability of crime prevention initiatives.

Last update: 04 May 2004

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