Target Policing Initiative
Targeted Policing Initiative
Targeted policing is about problem-oriented and intelligence-led policing - i.e. analysing and understanding the real crime or anti-social behaviour problem, and its underlying
causes, and then tackling it by the effective, efficient and focused deployment of the resources needed. This links very closely with the approach advocated by Her
Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabulary in the report Beating Crime, which was followed up by the Calling
Time on Crime thematic Inspection. These were accompanied by reports from the Home Office Policing and Reducing Crime Unit: Getting the Grease to the Squeak: research
lessons for crime prevention and Not Rocket Science? Problem solving and crime reduction 
PDF 180Kb.
The Targeted Policing Initiative is not aimed at any particular type of crime, but at helping the police to develop and implement a problem oriented approach. It is investing around £30 million over three years in over 50 projects aimed either at developing innovative approaches or at implementing proven interventions or problem-oriented methodologies. As with all parts of the Crime Reduction Programme, the projects will be evaluated and the lessons learnt will be published and disseminated to all local crime and disorder partnerships.
Some forces have already made good progress in making use of a targeted policing approach and some of this progress has been recognised by the annual Tilley awards.
The Tilley Award is an annual competition to identify best practice in problem-oriented policing initiatives. What we are aiming to do is to get best practice applied more widely and to develop new targeted policing techniques which can be used across forces.
The Initiative was divided into two rounds, but bids for support at national level to encourage the development of the necessary infrastructure to support targeted policing and the spread of good practice could be made at any time.
In Round One, police forces (in collaboration with their crime and disorder partners) were invited to submit applications for funding to run development projects starting from April 1999.
A total of 19 Round One and "at any time" projects were approved. In total, these received about £9.9 million from the Home Office, with more money levered in from other sources.
Click here for summaries of the Round One projects and here for "at any time" projects.
Round Two was launched in December 1999. Over 170 bids were received of which, initially, 27 were selected. These were given help to develop their ideas further, and to produce fully costed plans. The first of the projects started in May 2000. A further 12 projects were subsequently selected and, between them, these 39 projects have been granted a total of around £20 million.
Click here for summaries of the projects that were selected under Round Two.
In selecting these projects, we were particularly looking for value for money (in terms of both the contribution to reducing crime and the wider lessons that could be learnt) and some form of innovation. We also wanted to ensure a good spread across several different types of problem: property crime, vehicle crime, violence, racism, drug related crime, anti-social behaviour and fear of crime. It was not therefore possible to select all the good projects.
A number of seminars have been held, by the central Home Office and planned by the Government Offices for the regions. The seminars are for those running targeted policing projects and those that wished to learn from the projects. Provided information includes some key developments in the area of targeted policing and themes such as burglary, domestic violence, hate-crime, toolkits, partnership working and evaluation. One of the main purposes of the events is to bring the projects together to share their experiences or plans.
A dissemination strategy for the lessons and techniques learnt by the Crime Reduction Programme is currently under development.
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Last update: 08/09/03