Operation Ceasefire (also known as the Boston Gun Project and the Boston Miracle[1]) is a problem-oriented policing initiative implemented in 1996 in Boston, Massachusetts. The program was launched in Chicago in 1999 by the Chicago Project for Violence Prevention at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health. Some users left the area altogether. 0000013578 00000 n In high-volume arrest campaigns, the chances that police will arrest innocent people increase, unless they take special precautions. Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 578:104-125. The Group Violence Intervention (GVI) has been deployed in dozens of cities from Los Angeles to Providence, from Chicago to Nashville over almost 20 years. help in obtaining identification cards (including a drivers license, a non-driver state identification card, or a social security card). It was not a war of America's choosing. Squads of officers began to systematically arrest drug users who loitered on University Avenue and who facilitated the drug market. This is accomplished primarily at group meetings known as "call ins" or "forums," attended by representatives of the working group and the particular gang members and young people. Problem-Oriented Guides for Police, No. Agencies typically publicize the sanctions against groups and persons with the media; they also emphasize the sanctions in future intervention meetings as examples of what could happen if individuals do not change course. Answer (1 of 4): The technical idea behind a ceasefire is that both groups engaged in a conflict cease any offensive operations against each other in order to allow for the conflict to be mediated, usually by a third party. Once again, the potential for criticism does not necessarily make crackdowns inadvisable; sometimes, displacing a problem from an area that has suffered disproportionately, to other areas that haven't, can be justified as a more equitable distribution of suffering. In J. Miller, C. Maxson, and M. Klein (eds. Follow-up crackdowns to reinforce an initial crackdown typically do not need to be as intense. 0000041605 00000 n Ross, H. (1994). A notable successful initiative against gang-related crime was Boston's Operation Ceasefire, in which a crackdown on violent youth gangs, combined with a variety of other responses, significantly reduced youth homicides.53, One possible unintended consequence of gang crackdowns is that they might increase gang members' solidarity and commitment to their gangs and lifestyle: by targeting gangs, police can inadvertently give them some of the recognition and status they seek.54. As of June 26, 2017: Zimring, Franklin E., and Gordon J. Hawkins. The Operation Ceasefire entailed deterrence aimed at the group itself, not individuals. ), Drugs and Crime: Evaluating Public Policy Initiatives . Weiss, A., and E. McGarrell (1999). The Operation Ceasefire focused deterrence strategy was designed to prevent violence by reaching out directly to gangs, saying explicitly that violence would no longer be tolerated, and backing up that message by "pulling every lever" legally available when violence occurred (Kennedy, 1997). Other important partners with more intermittent participation include the Ten Points Coalition, the Office of the Massachusetts Attorney General, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Massachusetts State Police. Working Paper #88-01-11. The PDP likely expected this ceasefire to highlight to New Delhi an opportunity to extend an olive branch to Islamabad in the form of a more long-term ceasefire agreement, helping to diffuse the trust deficit between the two countries and presenting opportunities for composite talks. [5] A typical city-level finding is that groups collectively representing under 0.5% of the city's population will be connected as offenders, victims or both, with between half and three quarters of all homicide in the city[9]an example of the Pareto principle: a large proportion of the effects comes from a small proportion of the causes. Evidence Rating: Effective - More than one study Date: This profile was posted on December 15, 2011 Program Summary This is a problem-solving police strategy, which was designed to reduce gang violence, illegal gun possession, and gun violence in communities in Boston, Mass. "Problem-Oriented Policing: Actions and Effectiveness in San Diego ." Operation Ceasefire was instituted in Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, and Indianapolis and these cities achieved reductions in gun homicide of 25 to over 60 percent and, here in California, Stockton reduced gun homicide by more than 43 percent between 1998 and 2001. Crackdowns can reduce crime and disorder in two ways: by increasing the certainty that offenders will be caught and punished more severely than usual, or by increasing offenders' perceptions that they are more likely to get caught and punished. The services component of focused deterrence tends to be the least covered in practice, which is unfortunate because incentives for desisting from violence are as important as sanctions for disobedience. As part of the comprehensive program, each selected city must implement a strategy based on partnering, planning, and implementation to reduce its relatively high rate of gang and youth gun violence. But both Sampson and Cohen (1988) and Wilson and Boland (1978) found that aggressive enforcement was not strongly correlated with low burglary rates. [Full text], Kennedy, D., A. Braga, A. Piehl, and E. Waring (2001). Crackdowns designed to reduce burglary are typically of two types: those that focus on known burglars, and those that focus on other behavior thought to be connected to burglary (e.g., drug dealing, traffic violations, suspicious activity). Program Profile: Operation Ceasefire (Boston, Mass.) "Proactive Policing Against Street-Level Drug Trafficking." 2nd ed. Washington , D.C. : U.S. Department of Justice, National Institute of Justice. The differences in the average crime reductions across groups are statistically significant; a one-way Analysis of Variance test rejected the null hypothesis that the averages were the same, with Pr(>F) = 0.005. With respects to supporting a ceasefire, the results would be fairly obv. Atlantic Monthly 249(3):29-38. Examples of punishments given to prior gangs that continued violence can be used as deterrents to gangs that could be next; a typical example would be going over the enhanced prosecution (and lengthy sentences) of several members of one highly violent gang. Davis and Lurigio (1996); Sherman (1990). Increasing the likelihood that they are caught and jailed will help reduce the crime rate. completed and the elements of what is now known as the Operation Ceasefire intervention mapped out;implementation began in early 1996. Clean Sweep, Georgia State University Police Department, 2008, Operation Lock For crackdowns to be effective, they must be sufficiently strong and long: strong enough doses of police intervention for long enough periods. Novak et al. Thousand Oaks , Calif. : Sage. Cajon and University Avenue Traffic Accident Reduction, San Diego Police
