ABSTRACT
A problem is a recurring set of related harmful events in a community that members of the public expect the police to address. This definition draws attention to six defining elements of a problem: Community; Harm; Expectation; Events; Recurring; and Similarity. These elements are captured by CHEERS:
Community. Problems are experienced by members of the public. This includes individuals, businesses, government agencies, and other groups. Troublesome events within police agencies, not directly impacting members of the public, are not included. Police vehicle accidents, for example, occurring on police property are not 'problems' (though many of the techniques described in this manual could be applied to police vehicle accidents). Note that this element does not require that everyone or even most members of a community experience a problem, only that some community members do.
Harmful. People or institutions must suffer harm. The harm can involve property loss or damage, injury or death, or serious mental anguish. Most events of this sort are violations of the law, but illegality is not a defining characteristic of problems. There are problems involving legal behaviour that the police must still address. Noise complaints arising from the impact of legitimate commercial activity on neighbouring residents is a common example. Some problems are first reported as involving illegal behaviour that on closer examination do not involve illegalities. Nevertheless, if they meet the all the criteria of the definition, they are still problems.
Expectation. Some members of the public expect the police to do something about the causes of the harm. Again, the number of people who expect the police to address the problem need not be large. Events that are annoying only to police officials are not problems, in the technical sense of this term. Though public complaints to the police are important indicators of expectation, sometimes citizens have trouble communicating with the police, or do not realise the police are willing to and capable of addressing their concerns so problems are hidden from the police. If the public understood police capacity, their expectations might change. Nevertheless, public expectation should never be presumed, but must be evident.
Events. Problems are comprised of discrete incidents, such a break-in to a home, one person striking another, two people exchanging money and sex, or a burst of noise. These are events. Most events are brief, though some may involve a great deal of time - some frauds, for example. A problem must have more than one event .
Recurring. Having more than one event implies that events must recur. They may be symptoms of an acute or a chronic problem. An acute problem suddenly appears, as in the case of a neighbourhood with few vehicle break-ins suddenly having many such break-ins. Chronic problems are around for a long time, as in the case of a prostitution stroll that has been located along one street for many years. Whether acute or chronic, unless something is done, these events will continue to occur. If recurrence is not anticipated, problem solving may not be necessary.
Similarity. Implied in the idea of recurring is that these events are similar or related. They may all be committed by the same person, happen to the same type of victim, occur in the same types of locations, take place in similar circumstances, involve the same type of weapon, or have one or more other factors in common. Without common features, we have a random collection of events instead of a problem. With common features, we have a pattern of events. Crime and disorder patterns are often symptoms of problems.
Problems need to be defined with great specificity because small details can make a difference between a set of circumstances that gives rise to harmful events, and a set of circumstances producing harmless events. Solving problems involves changing one or more of these small details. CHEERS suggests six basic questions that need examination in the scanning stage:Who in the community is affected by the problem?
What specifically are the harms created by the problem?
What are the expectations for the police response?
What types of events contribute to the problem?
Where and when do these events recur?
How are the events similar?
Not everything the police are asked to address qualifies as a problem. The CHEERS concepts can help identify demands that are not problems. Again, we are using the term 'problem' in the technical, POP sense, not as we would in everyday speech. So things we define as 'not problems' still may be troublesome, and still may require police attention. These are as follows: