Practical Skills
Problem Solving SARA
SARA – Scanning, Analysis, Response, Assessment
Introduction
SARA has been used for some time in problem-oriented policing (POP) as a methodical process for problem solving. It is an integral part of the philosophy of community policing in the US.
It is of use to crime reduction practitioners in any field as applying the process can ensure that a crime problem is effectively identified and tackled, avoiding any waste of time and resources if only part of the actual problem is identified. SARA is also commonly used within the police service, so an understanding of the process may help partner organisations to work with the police to tackle local problems.
Its four stages are:
Scanning – spotting problems using knowledge, basic data and electronic maps
Analysis – using hunches and information technology to dig deeper into problems’ characteristics and underlying causes
Response – devising a solution, working with the community, wherever possible
Assessment – looking back to see if the solution worked and what lessons can be learned.
Scanning
Scanning allows incidents to be grouped into clusters or ‘problems’. These problems comprise similar, related or recurring incidents and are identified from police data and intelligence and calls from members of the community.
The definition of what constitutes a ‘problem’ is deliberately left open as there is an almost endless range of situations where the public may call the police. Incidents may vary in terms of their seriousness, particularly in crime terms, but they are all of concern to the community and call for a police response.
Problems identified in the scanning phase of the process should not be “one-offs”; they should be problems which have been recurring for some time, certainly over a period of months. It makes more sense to spend time and resources on a long-term problem than on one that would have only lasted for a couple of weeks.
Analysis
In this phase, crime reduction practitioners identify the conditions that give rise to a particular problem by examining the characteristics and impact of the problem in greater detail. For example, scanning might have revealed that there were many thefts from shops in a particular area, but analysis will provide the hour, day or month that the thefts took place and from which particular shops.
Analysis may involve collecting information about offenders and victims, the time of occurrence, location and other details of the physical environment, the history of the current problem, the motivations, gains and losses of involved parties, the apparent (and hidden) causes and competing interests, and the results of current responses.
Police and other practitioners may need to talk to colleagues, partners, local businesses, or to members of the community to better understand the problem. As well as police data, information held by other organisations such as insurance companies, hospitals, local authorities, probation and schools may be useful.
Another tool which can be used at this stage is the Problem Analysis Triangle (PAT) which appears to derive from the Routine Activity Theory developed by Cohen and Felson (1979) and Felson (1994). PAT breaks incidents down into three constituent elements:
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the features of the incident’s location
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the features of the caller/victim
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the features of the offender or of the source of the incident.
It helps to be as precise as possible in defining the problem, having identified the incidents to be included in the analysis. It is crucial to establish what it is about the place, caller or victim, and the offender or source of the problem that causes it to arise, and how and when happens. This may need some lateral thinking to define the factors behind a problem.
An accurate assessment of the problem is one of the main elements of POP. If a response to a problem fails, the practitioner can then return to the analysis to see whether another element might be influenced.
Response
Response refers to any action taken to try to address a problem. This might vary from the simple – for example a practitioner advising someone what they should or should not be doing – to the complex, such as a practitioner involving the community and local bodies to set up a project to help young people.
Work done in the analysis phase helps to identify or isolate the element that can most easily and effectively be tackled to try to resolve a problem. Often, responses will combine actions to tackle more than one aspect of the problem identified during the analysis phase.
In selecting responses, it is crucial to work out in detail how they are expected to produce their intended effects.
A simplistic example of potential responses for a problem is given below. Detailed scanning and analysis would enable officers to devise better ways of responding.
Problem - gangs of youths frequently attacking or intimidating people leaving a pub and walking along a poorly lit street
|
PAT element |
Possible response |
|
Place |
Tackling the lack of lighting by bringing the problem to the attention of the relevant authority |
|
Offenders |
Considering why the youths hang around the area, to establish whether there is something that brings them there, or whether there is a lack of other places to go |
|
Victims |
Enlisting the help of the local community by encouraging them to keep a special watch on the area and to lobby the local authority to provide better amenities for young people |
|
Targeting police resources such as foot and car patrols in the area at the particular times identified by analysis when the incidents are most frequent |
|
Bringing the problem, and efforts to tackle it, to the attention of the local media to try to improve the reputation of the area |
Assessment
In the final stage of SARA, practitioners review attempts to deal with a problem and evaluate how successful they have been. There are three major reasons why the assessment stage is very important:
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To find out whether a particular problem still exists and requires continuing attention. This is important in deciding whether to continue to deploy resources to respond effectively to the problem.
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To improve problem-solving skills by finding out what seems to work in differing circumstances. This avoids reinventing the wheel and contribute to the “what works” knowledgebase and the dissemination of good practice.
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To enable effective problem-solving to be recognised within the police service and other organisations, acknowledging individuals' efforts.
Assessment can be difficult to do well and as a result is often largely overlooked. It must be a routine feature of any problem-solving structure. Assessment is not an evaluation of the performance of those involved but what happened when a problem was tackled.
An assessment that concludes that a problem has been dealt with successfully does not always mean that it has been eliminated. There are many different types of success. For example:
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The problem and its impact remain the same but the volume of police effort to respond to it may be reduced.
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The harm to the public may be reduced even though the number of incidents remains the same.
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The number of problem incidents may be reduced.
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The problem may be entirely eliminated.
Good assessment:
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Needs a clear definition of the problem and a description of how it is being addressed in order to focus measurement where success is most realistically to be expected.
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Needs a good description of what was actually done and when action was taken as there is often a difference between what was planned and what was actually done.
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Needs to identify whether a response failed to achieve its hoped for outcomes because it was not applied as had been intended, or whether it genuinely failed to make an impact.
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Needs a collection of incident and other data about the problem before and after the response and the identification of the precise action taken to resolve the problem, rather than basic before and after measures at an aggregate level.
Conclusion
Although SARA can be used as a guiding process for problem solving, it would be wise not to see it as the answer to everything as it can be limited in its effectiveness if it is employed in too mechanistic a fashion. Examples of poor use of SARA within problem solving include:
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not making full use of historical data available when scanning
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not doing in depth analysis because it is felt that enough is known about a problem to understand it without special research
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not keeping the phases distinct from each other
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using it to justify an already chosen solution, rather than as a means of gaining deeper understanding of what is happening.
PROblem, Cause, Tactic or Treatment, Output and Result (PROCTOR) was devised to enhance the SARA model but does not appear to have been taken up, given the already widespread use of SARA.
More information
Not Rocket Science? Problem-solving and crime
reduction
Crime Reduction Research Series Paper 6, Tim Read and
Nick Tilley, London: Home Office, 2000
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/prgpdfs/crrs06.pdf
PDF 184 Kb
Problem-oriented Policing Brit Pop
Crime Detection and Prevention Series Paper
75
Adrian Leigh, Tim Read, Nick Tilley. London: Home Office,
1996
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/prgpdfs/fcdps75.pdf
PDF 579 Kb
Brit Pop II: problem-oriented policing in practice
Police Research Series Paper 93, Adrian Leigh, Tim Read,
Nick Tilley. London: Home Office, 1998
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/prgpdfs/fprs93.pdf
PDF 801 Kb
What makes a good SARA? Mike Townsley
& Ken Pease, August 2001
Merseyside Police
Word
97 (53 Kb)
PDF
(31 Kb)
Contact Supt Simon Byrne at Merseyside Police for further
details.
Acknowledgements
Much of the description for each stage of SARA has been adapted from Problem-oriented Policing Brit Pop paper listed above, with reference to the other reports and papers. This summary is hopefully a useful starting point if you wish to use the SARA process as a tool in your own problem solving work. A more enhanced framework tool can be found in the Conjunction of Criminal Opportunity, which has been designed to apply to all crime reduction activity, rather than particularly police-led work.
Last update: 27/08/03