Violence Reduction in Joliet, Illinois: An Evaluation of the Strategic Tactical Deployment Program

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Recognizing the lack of empirical support for police-probation partnerships, Worrall and 

Gaines (2006) conducted an analysis of a police-probation partnership program carried out in 

San Bernardino, California. Analyzing city-wide arrest statistics, the authors conducted an 

interrupted-time-series analysis using juvenile arrest data as a proxy for juvenile crime arguing 

that a decline in arrests represented a decrease in crime. Following the implementation of the 

Nightlight program, arrests for assault, burglary, and theft declined in San Bernardino, but had 

no effect on juvenile arrests for robbery and motor vehicle theft.       

 

The Minneapolis Anti-Violence Initiative (MAVI) also teamed police and probation officers 

in an effort to reduce violent crime. Two nights per week, MAVI teams performed home visits 

targeting offenders who had a history of violent crime, firearms offenses, and gang involvement. 

MAVI teams also participated in saturation patrols of high-crime areas of the city. While no 

formal evaluation of the program was conducted, the study concluded that conducting home 

visits accompanied by police officers had a significant impact on probation success and provided 

police with an invaluable opportunity to meet those under correctional supervision in their 

community.  

 

A similar program was begun in Vancouver, Washington. The Vancouver police, working 

with the Clark County sheriff’s office and the Washington Department of Corrections, began 

home visits of high-risk gang members in an effort to reduce gang crime. Parole officers used 

their authority to search the offender and the portion of the residence that he occupied. If a parole 

officer observed a violation of the law, the offender was placed under arrest. If they suspected 

criminal activity outside of the area occupied by the offender, police officers obtained a warrant 

to search the remaining portion of the premises. While crime continued to rise during the 

initiative, police felt that the program had encouraged people to report gang crime to the police. 

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In New Haven, Connecticut, Project One Voice formed a partnership between the local 

police and the state’s probation and parole authorities. The goal of the project was to reduce 

drug-related and violent crime by providing enhanced supervision of the most criminally active 

offenders who were on probation, parole, or pretrial release. Twice a week, a team of one police 

officer and one probation officer patrolled New Haven and stopped probationers who they 

suspected of violating the conditions of their supervision. They also conducted unannounced 

home visits to confirm residency and curfew compliance. When police officers patrolled without 

probation officers, they carried notebooks identifying those probationers and parolees who they 

believed to be involved in gang activity and drug sales as well as information about their 

probation and parole restrictions. Like other enhanced supervision programs, no evaluation of 

Project One Voice has been conducted. In spite of the lack of a formal evaluation, local 

authorities believe that the heightened surveillance of probationers has led to increased 

conformity to supervision requirements.   

 

Another innovative program was begun by the Redmond, Washington Police Department 

and the Washington State Department of Corrections. Named Smart Partners, the program had 

three components. The first involved training police officers as volunteer parole officers, who 

conducted random curfew and home visits to ensure that parolees were complying with their 

mandated curfews. It should be noted that police officers were not permitted to enter a parolee’s 

residence without permission. Failing to give permission, however, was a violation of the 

offender’s conditions of supervision. If the police officer was allowed to enter the residence and 

observed evidence of a crime, he could make a lawful arrest. The second component involved 

the notification of the department of corrections each time a person under correctional 

supervision came into contact with the police. The third component involved the notification of 

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the department of corrections each time a person on parole was booked for a criminal offense. 

While the Smart Partners’ program has never been formally evaluated, it has been expanded to 

more than fifty cities and counties within Washington State.  

  

In 1996, The Maricopa County Probation Department began the Neighborhood Probation 

project in an effort to reduce recidivism in the Coronado district of Phoenix, Arizona. Included in 

the project was a reciprocal relationship with local law enforcement. Police officers spent time in 

neighborhood probation offices, familiarizing themselves with probationers and provided backup 

for probation officers making home visits. In return, probation officers used their broader search 

powers to aid in police investigations. Like the other programs reviewed here, Maricopa 

County’s neighborhood probation project has not been evaluated, but officials believe that the 

program has contributed to a decrease in crime in the Coronado district. 

 

As this review has shown, there has been great interest in police-corrections partnerships. In 

spite of these efforts, however, there has been little formal evaluation of the effectiveness of 

these programs. Additionally, not all the literature on police-corrections partnerships has been 

positive. Studying police-probation partnerships, Corbett (1998) identified three problems that 

can occur when multiple agencies work together: organizational lag, mission creep, and mission 

distortion. Organizational lag occurs when administrators introduce a new program without 

adequately funding or staffing the effort. Mission creep occurs when the cooperative effort 

expands the duties of existing personnel. Finally, mission distortion occurs when participants 

overstep their authority such as police officers who use home visits as a pretext to search for 

guns and drugs without seeking a search warrant. 

 

 

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