Concentrating patrol on small high-crime locations reduces crime there without simply pushing an equal amount elsewhere.
The Minneapolis experiment randomised additional patrol across identified hot spots and found reductions in crime and disorder at the treated locations. The displacement objection, that offending would simply move, has been tested repeatedly and found to be partial at most, which is the result that made place-based policing defensible rather than merely efficient-looking.
In practice
- A council concentrating enforcement on four streets sees the problem shrink rather than relocate.
- A retailer staffing its three worst-affected aisles loses less overall, not the same amount in different aisles.