Problem Solver’s

Handbook
 Problem Solver’s Handbook

Contents
Application of a Problem Solving Approach Page 3

Problem Solving and Processes Page 4

Defining a Problem and Common Mistakes Pages 5 and 6

Setting an Aim Page 7

Research and Analysis Pages 8 and 9

Routine Activity and Rational Choice Page 10

Broken Windows Page 11

Situational Crime Prevention Page 12

Thinking Creatively and Negotiating Changes Pages 13

Acceptance of Responsibility Page 14

Evaluation and Recognition of Others Page 15

Neighbourhood Policing - Engagement Page 16

Community Engagement Methods Page 17

Prioritising the Problems Pages 18 and 19

Environmental Visual Audits Page 20

Working to Resolve the Problems Page 21

Updating the Community and Leaflets Pages 22 and 23

Writing a Newsletter and News Article Pages 24 and 25

Assessing a Problem Solving Initiative Pages 26 and 27

Summary of Problem Solving Processes Page 28

Copyright Information

The content of this book is fully protected under the Copyright Laws of
the British Commonwealth of Nations, the United States of America
and all countries of the Berne and Universal Copyright Conventions. All
rights are strictly reserved.
@Neil Henson Sixth Sense Training Limited 2018
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 Problem Solver’s Handbook

Application of a Problem Solving

Within Policing and Community Safety a Problem Solving approach can
be used for the following:

1 Reducing Crime and Disorder.

2 Reducing Calls for Service. (Including Road Collisions)
3 Neighbourhood Policing.

Reducing Crime and Disorder

Crime and Disorder problems can
be identified using a Strategic
Assessment. The results are usually
grouped under broad terms such as
Burglary or Harm Reduction.

These broader terms become

Strategic Aims which need to be
assessed, in order to identify the
specific problems. Key Crime
Theories have been detailed later in the handbook.

Reducing Calls for Service

There will be certain calls which are either frequent in nature or costly
on resources (officer’s time / money) or both. These will usually have
a theme, such as Missing Children, Disorder in a Town Centre or
Repeat Callers and would need to be further assessed in order to
identify a precise location or a specific caller.

Neighbourhood Policing
There will be crime and disorder problems
which may not be a crime priority or rank
highly as a call for service, but would still
have a detrimental impact on the community.

Officers assigned to a specific area would

engage with the community to identify the
specific problems and work with them using
a problem solving approach.

A Community Engagement Process is detailed later in this handbook.

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 Problem Solver’s Handbook

What is Problem Solving?

Here is our definition:

Problem solving is changing the current situation into

something better, and keeping it that way. Neil Henson

To help make the change, there are

stages that need to be undertaken.
These stages form part of a Problem
Solving Process. There are many
Problem Solving Processes. One of the
first to be used by the Police is called
SARA. www.popcenter.org

Are there alternative Problem

Solving Processes?
Yes, a number have been developed over the years. This handbook will
be working through one called PARTNERS, developed by Neil Henson,
who has been working in Problem Solving since the 1980s.
You will see that it follows the same key stages, but isolates each
stage with more information, to make it easier for the user. Also, the
mnemonic PARTNERS, reminds people to seek out those who share
their problem and get the benefits of working with them.

S P Problem and Partner Identification

A Aim Setting

A R Research and Analysis

R T Thinking Creatively

N Negotiating the Changes

A E Evaluation

R Recognition and Reward

S Sharing Good Practice

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 Problem Solver’s Handbook

What is your problem?

Defining the problem
accurately is the keystone
of problem solving. Define it
incorrectly and all subsequent
work could be aimed ‘at the
wrong goalposts’.

A well-defined problem can

usually be recorded in one
sentence, but be prepared
for it to take a long time to
get it right.

We have found that there are

eight common mistakes
that people make when
defining their problems.

Here they are:

1 Multiple problems 5 Not being clear

2 Consequences 6 Limited description

3 Aspirational 7 Implied cause

4 Too much jargon 8 It is just a statement

1. Multiple problems – If you can’t describe your problem in a single

sentence, you’ve probably got more than one problem e.g. Crime in
the Bus Station. You must separate the problems or you’ll be
setting aims that cannot be met and your responses will not work.
Be specific e.g. Assaults on staff, robbery, criminal damage.

2. Consequences – When what you have described are symptoms or

the consequences of the problem, rather than the problem itself
e.g. Injuries from broken bottles, as opposed to sale of alcohol to
under-aged youths resulting in drunk and disorderly behaviour and
assaults.

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 Problem Solver’s Handbook

If you and your partnership only have the capability to tackle the
consequences, then acknowledge that’s what you’re doing and
select the most applicable response from the Impact Scale.
Details of the Impact Scale can be found later in the book.

3. Aspirational – Where someone records the aim without defining

the problem e.g. “We want more people to come into the town
centre at night”, as opposed to identifying the reasons why people
don’t come and defining them as separate problems.

4. Too much jargon - The use of acronyms is exclusionary and most

organisations have their own jargon which means nothing to people
from other organisations. This isn’t an issue until you want to
involve other partners. Then it can be one of the biggest blocks to
working together and making sense of information. Do you want
to have to employ an interpreter for every meeting? If in doubt,
explain an acronym or, even better, get rid of it.

5. Not being clear – Clarity is all important if you want people to

understand the precise nature of the problem. Plain English should
be used always. Some people are reluctant readers. Some are
poor readers. Some have English as a 2nd or even 3rd language.
Unfortunately, it’s been our experience that, on occasions, some
people have not understood the problem and not had the
confidence to say so. They then mask this with terminology that
looks knowledgeable but doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.

6. Limited description –This is when just two or three words are

written and the reader is expected to know exactly what they
mean. We are supporters of brevity, but if you write just a couple
of words you make it unnecessarily difficult for others to appreciate
the problem and therefore they cannot help you.

7. Implied cause – Where a person has built what they believe to be

the cause into their definition e.g. “We are unable to provide
training opportunities at all of our sites across London as we do not
have an office at each site”. Are you basing your definition on what
you know or what you believe? The problem is only being examined
with one possible cause in mind.

8. Making a statement – Where what you’ve recorded is a

statement rather than a problem e.g. “Cars driving up and down
the sea front at night”. So what? It’s better to isolate specific
problems being caused e.g. “Cars being raced recklessly causing
danger to pedestrians”.
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 Problem Solver’s Handbook

Working with others

You can work on your own but there are so
many benefits of working with others, best
described as your partners.

Benefits

They can give you a different perspective,

more information on the problem,
additional resources and support when
negotiating with others.

One way is to ask yourself the question,

“Who shares my problem?”
You can also find your partners by asking “Who shares my aim?”

What is it you want to achieve?

This would be your aim. Here is a mnemonic to help set your aim.

S Specific Make sure the Aim “hits the nail on the head”.

M Measurable Decide on effective ways to measure success.

A Achievable Your resources will influence this.

R Relevant Are your actions working towards your Aim?

T Time-bound It will need a specific end date.

Deciding what is achievable can be difficult and hard to express to

others. Fortunately, the following has been written. It is called the
Impact Scale* and gives you five choices on what to aim for.

1 Eliminate the problem

2 Reduce the problem by degrees

3 Reduce the seriousness of a problem

4 Deal with the problem more efficiently

5 Persuade another body to take the lead

*The Impact Scale is based on an idea by Prof John Eck and is used here with his
kind permission. Source: John E Eck and William Spelman (1987)
Problem-Solving: Problem-Oriented Policing In Newport News. Washington, DC:
Police Executive Research Forum.

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Researching the problem

The first part focuses on our problem and
asks specific questions. This is known as
convergent research.

What’s going on?

Who is involved?
When is it happening?
Where is it happening?
How much is it costing?
How long has it been a problem?
Did anything change before the problem started?

So far, the questions have concerned the effects of the problem itself.
An additional approach is to ask ‘opposite’ type questions. Here are
some examples.

Who is not affected by the problem?

Where is there no problem?
When is it not happening?

Answers to these questions may provide some ideas on how your

problem can be resolved.

Getting a measure of the problem

You will need to get a ‘a snapshot’ or measure, of the problem before
any changes have taken place. This is known as a baseline.
It can involve quantitative and qualitative measures. Quantitative data
involves numbers. You can count such measures before and after your
response(s), and note the difference. Qualitative data asks for
opinions, some based on feelings and impressions.

The demand to make a change

As well as finding out all about the problem you need to know who is
behind the requirement to have something done? The three questions
you need to ask to establish the demand are:

1. Who is asking?
2. What is it they want?
3. Why is it important to them?

If you discover these people have unrealistic expectations of what can

be achieved, they need to be told why it is not possible.
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Analysis – Making sense of what you’ve found

It’s about making inferences based upon the Research and honing the
information down into a usable form and concentrating your efforts on
the information that will be most useful.

Why? Why? Why?

Firstly, summarise the problem. Then ask the question “Why might the
problem exist?” (Only use might at this stage as we may not know the
definite reasons, only the possible reasons). Then ask ‘Why?’ again
against each of the reasons given.

Storyboards
To increase your effectiveness, it helps if you and your partners get an
appreciation of the all events which are causing your crime, disorder or
anti-social behaviour problems. You can do this by isolating each stage
and describing the role played by all those involved.

We describe this method as a ‘Storyboard’. A system used in film

making to demonstrate a required sequence of events and are made
up of sketches, photographs and film footage. So, we thought, why not
use the same system to present the sequence of the crimes being
committed.

The very process of completing the stages will identify any gaps in
your knowledge about what is going on and make it easier to clearly
task others to undertake further research to fill the gaps.

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Crime Theories
The Problem Analysis Triangle
It shows that all events, problems or incidents
have three components. For crime, they are
Victim, Offender and Location. Sometimes
Time is added and it is described as VOLT.

Routine Activity Theory

This is a theory first developed by the
criminologists Marcus Felson
A likely offender
and Larry Cohen.

They argue that when a crime occurs,

three things happen at the same time
Crime and in the same space: a suitable
A suitable The absence
target of a capable target is available; there is no
guardian capable guardian to prevent the crime
from happening; and a likely and
Physical convergence in time and place
motivated offender is present.

A capable guardian is anything - either a

person or thing, which discourages crime
from taking place. For example: CCTV,
police patrols, security guards, fences and
locks.

A motivated offender is someone who

wants or needs to commit crime. Try to
think like the offender. Why are they committing the crime?

Rational Choice Theory

Another theory that builds upon the
Routine Activity Theory is Marcus Felson
and Ron Clarke’s Rational Choice Theory.

It means trying to see the world from the

offender’s perspective: How does the
offender make crime choices? What drives
them? Why do they pick certain locations,
goods or victims?
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Broken Windows Theory

James Q. Wilson and George Kelling developed the Broken Windows
Theory, which suggests that crime is the almost inevitable result of
disorder.

They suggested that the

following sequence of events
could be expected in
deteriorating
neighbourhoods:

Evidence of decay (broken

windows, deteriorated
building exteriors) remaining
in the neighbourhood for a
reasonably long period of
time.

People who live and work in

the area feel more vulnerable and begin to withdraw. They become
less willing to intervene to maintain public order or to address physical
signs of deterioration.

Sensing this, offenders become bolder and intensify their harassment

and vandalism. Residents become yet more fearful and withdraw even
further from community involvement and upkeep.

This atmosphere then attracts offenders from outside the area, who
sense that it has become a vulnerable and less risky site for crime.

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Situational Crime Prevention

It focuses on reducing the opportunities
for criminals to commit crime. It
concentrates on the criminal and what
they think about.

If they think they can get away with a

particular crime, then make it appear
harder, riskier and less rewarding to
commit that crime. It was written by
Ronald V Clarke.

He identified five separate headings.

Increase the risks Increase the effort

Strengthen formal surveillance Harden the targets

Assist natural surveillance Control the access
Utilise place managers Screen the exits
Extend guardianship Deflect offenders
Reduce anonymity Control weapons

Reduce the rewards

Remove the targets
Deny benefits
Disrupt the market
Conceal the target
Identify property

Remove the excuses Reduce the provocation

Set rules Reduce frustrations

Post instructions Discourage imitation
Alert conscience Avoid disputes
Assist compliance Neutralise peer pressure
Control alcohol Reduce emotional arousal

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Thinking Creatively
As you work through the Problem Solving
Process you will get to a point where you know
what the problem is and you are moving
towards developing options to resolve it.

This is the time to have a think about doing

something creative. Creativity is defined as
“Original ideas that have value.”

Firstly, assess other’s good practice and see

whether their responses could be employed to
solve your problem. You are likely to have to
adapt them to your situation. Making these smaller changes to
something that already exists is called Incremental creativity. Doing
something new is called Radical creativity.

Realising Opportunities
Here are four ways we could consider when
deciding how we could change the current
situation to something better.

1 Create something new

2 Increase your capacity

3 Increase your flexibility

4 Improve your efficiency

Negotiating the Changes

Now you have gathered your options, you and your partners will need
to decide which ones you will use to make the changes needed. These
changes can be described as actions.

Monitoring is continually assessing whether or not any of your

changes are working.

If the changes are not happening it could be that others who could
assist you are choosing not to do so. This situation is not new to those
involved in problem solving and, as a result, guidance notes have been
produced on how you can encourage them to accept responsibility.
(See next page).
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10 ways to convince others to accept

responsibility for Problem Solving
1. Educate others regarding
their responsibility for
the problem.

2. Make a straightforward
informal request for
others to assume
responsibility for the
problem.

3. Make a targeted
confrontational for
others request to
assume responsibility
for the problem.

4. Engage an existing organisation, that has the capacity to help,

to address the problem.

5. Press for the creation of a new organisation to assume

responsibility for the problem.

6. Shame the delinquent organisation/ person/ department by

calling public attention to its failure to assume responsibility
for the problem.

7. Withdraw services related to certain aspects of the problem.

8. Charge fees for services related to the problem.

9. Press for legislation mandating that organisations/ persons/

departments take measures to prevent the problem.

10 Bring a civil action to compel another organisation/ person/

department to accept responsibility for the problem.

The above advice has been adapted from a document called: Shifting and
Sharing Responsibility for Public Safety Problems - Community Oriented
Policing Services by Herman Goldstein and Michael S Scott (2005). – US
Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services.
Response Guide No.3 Available for free download from the Center for
Problem Oriented Policing website www.popcenter.org

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Evaluation
Firstly, Impact Evaluation. To
determine what happened to the
problem, you need to ask the
following questions:

Was the Aim met? If not, why not?

Did my responses cause the changes?

Secondly, Process Evaluation requires you to look at what you’ve

done and, regardless of results, to ask what went well and what didn’t
go well and the reasons.

Recognising others
If things improved, then celebrate it! Reward good work. Ensure
people get the credit they deserve. This is a part of problem solving
that can get overlooked. If people feel that they have been part of
something worthwhile, they will be more inclined to take part again.

Sharing good practice

Within your organisation. Add a section on ‘Sharing Good Practice’
into internal staff appraisals on how the person identified and applied
the good practice.

Outside your organisation. Attend a conference and present details

of your good practice.

Further information
A book on problem solving and partnership
working called “Who Shares your Problem?”
has been written by Neil Henson, winner of
the UK Home Office Tilley Problem Solving
Award.

It provides more information on the

PARTNERS Problem Solving Process with
a number of examples. It is available in
Kindle and Paperback versions from
Amazon.

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Engaging Communities – Five Stage Process

Stage 1 Understand the Community

To be efficient in engaging with
the local community it is vital
to find out everything about
the people living and working
in your area.

This assessment will inform you

on how to select the most
suitable engagement methods.

It would make sense to find out

if there are other organisations who are currently engaging with your
target groups. You could see if you could be part of their programme.

How you can divide up your area?

In the UK, these are described as Ward, Neighbourhood or Output
Area Summaries. (The Health Service makes use of Output areas)

What should be included?

It should include: a map; the

population statistics and characteristics;
services and facilities; housing types;
transport; education; corporate and
retail businesses: faith centres and
libraries.

Also include: Community groups such

as Neighbourhood Watch; Resident and
Tenant Associations and Voluntary
Organisations.

There are companies that can provide

information about your area.

You could record the results of public

attitude surveys, which identify sites of
Anti Social Behaviour, as well as
Intelligence Assessments on crime.

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Stage 2 Engage with the community and

identify their concerns / problems
Once you have information about the communities in your area you
need to make contact with them to find out what issues are causing
them most concern. Below are the different levels of engagement.

Information Giving
Purpose To provide people with information about your plans
and services.
Expectation That information will be accurate, balanced and up-
dated as necessary.

Information Gathering
Purpose To collect information about attitudes, opinions and
preferences on specific policies and proposals that will
assist your understanding and decision making.
Expectation That information gathered will be treated and used
responsibly, that feedback will influence decisions and
that people will be kept informed.

Partnership Collaboration
Purpose To establish through consultation and discussion what
the issues and priorities are and to work together in
effective partnerships to improve services.
Expectation That decision making will be shared and some
resources will be held in common. That all parties will
be circulated with progress bulletins.

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Ways to engage with the community

Firstly, make use of your understanding of your community to identify
the types of people living in your area. For example, they could be
predominantly older people or daily commuters. Select which group
you are targeting.

Secondly, make a decision on what you are trying to achieve from

the time you have with them. (See the different levels on the previous
page) Do you want to give them information or are you looking to
discuss the priorities for your team?

Finally, examine the engagement methods available and apply the

ones that are most likely to be effective with these people. For
example, commuters can be best contacted at the train stations.

Commonly used engagement methods

Key Individual This is made up of key local people whose views
Network (KIN) can help to establish priorities for policing in their
area.

One of the key activities is to survey their views

about local issues of concern and to identify
target activities for the Neighbourhood Policing
teams. There are also ‘on-line’ versions available.

Surgeries These provide an easy way for people to voice

any concerns. Policing teams organise surgeries
where people can have a one-to-one conversation
with their local police officer or community
support officer about any concerns they have.

X marks These are similar to

the spot postcards but there
is a map of the area
on the card and the
person marks with
crosses the areas
where they do not
feel safe.

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Environmental Visual Audits

An environmental visual audit (EVA)is a
way of assessing what an area is like.

It can identify the good things in place,

but it is generally used to identify the
things in public that are a problem,
such as graffiti or fly-tipping.

You will need to decide whether it is

better to have members of the
community with you. They will give
you their perspective of an area, that
you may not have considered.

You could also invite a local councillor to come with you. Not only are
they are going to be a partner, but they may be able to assist you
when you are trying to make a change. A risk assessment may need to
be undertaken. Here are some other points to consider.

Location Consider the size of location to be covered.

Time What is the best time to get an accurate

assessment? If checking for drugs paraphernalia, just
after street cleaning would not be a good time.

Transport How to get there and back. If a large area is to be

covered, how best can it be done?

Method of A camera the best method, supported by a written

recording record. However, individuals should not be
information photographed as this would require authorisation.

Achievable Can the EVA be done within a reasonable period of

time limits time? Will splitting an EVA across days affect results?

Personnel How many people involved? All personnel should be

given a specific task and also given a start and finish
time. Also provide people with a contact number.

Contact How will you all stay in touch? Visual? Radio? Mobile?
Everyone should be contactable at all times.

How is the Date and time. Precise location. Comments made by

information people to yourselves as you walk around their area.
recorded? Any evidence recorded, such as pictures.

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Stage 3 Prioritise the problems

You will reach a point when you have made contact with sufficient
members of your community and have a good appreciation of the
problems in your area. However, it is not simply a matter of asking
people what they want and giving it to them. Even if there were
sufficient resources to give people everything they wanted, public
priorities may be contradictory.

Therefore, it is about understanding the perspective of the community

and then deciding fairly what can and cannot be worked on. One way
to make these decisions is to hold public meetings to clarify the issues
and select the priorities or have a representative group who then
select the priorities. This approach has emerged across the United
Kingdom and, even though the groups have different names and
variations in their approach, they are fundamentally the same. Here is
a summary of the main ones.

Neighbourhood Action Groups (NAGs)

A NAG is a multi-agency, problem-solving
group that consists of relevant partner
agencies, key stakeholders and members
of the local community.

NAGs attract a broad and diverse

membership with a variety of skills and
experience. Practical and communication
skills are all highly valued.

‘Have your say’ meetings

At the 'Have your say' meeting
people tell the Neighbourhood
Team what issues concern them.

Alternatively, some areas offer

people the facility to register
their problems and to suggest or
vote on the local priorities.

After the meeting, a sub group decides how they will work together to
resolve the neighbourhood priorities. The Neighbourhood Policing
Team report back to the next meeting on progress and update their
local website.

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Partnership and Community

Together (PACT) meetings

PACT meetings are an opportunity for the

community to have their say on what
matters most to them in their area. They provide an accurate picture
of what is really happening locally. The problems encountered are
discussed and solutions explored. From the issues raised at the
meeting and those brought to the meeting by the local police they
decide on the PACT priorities.

Ward / Neighbourhood Panels

A Panel is made up of local people who live and/or work in the area.
They would have been identified through the engagement activities
carried out in the area. It is important that the group is representative
of the community and has its support.

This can be achieved by nominations being made at public meetings or

events. An ideal size for the group would be about twelve people.

The Panel negotiates with the Neighbourhoods Policing Teams on the

priorities for the local area by examining the results of community
consultation and research. It also includes results from public events
where the community have voiced concerns. The purpose of these
panels is to agree a realistic and achievable course of action to address
the issues raised by the community.

What about involving local councillors?

The Ward panel may also benefit from the involvement of the local
Ward Councillors. The role of the councillor is to observe the process
and contribute their local knowledge of problems. The Councillor
should abstain from deciding the priorities in order that the delivery of
services is not seen to be affected by politics.

Stage 4 Work to resolve the problems

Once the problems have been identified and prioritised they need to be
resolved. Otherwise what was the point of asking people what issues
were causing them concern. In fact, the very process of engaging with
the community will have raised their expectation that something is
going to be done. The problems identified have invariably been around
for a while and so are the ones that are difficult to resolve. Therefore,
a problem solving approach is most likely to be needed.
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Stage 5 Update the community

At some point, you will want to provide information to the community.
It could be information about a future community engagement event,
specific crime prevention advice or an update on things that have been
done to resolve a problem. You could create a leaflet, write an article
for a newspaper, or produce a newsletter. Here is some advice on how
to produce them.

Guide on writing leaflets

So why A leaflet gives you a chance to draw attention to
produce your team, cause or event. Furthermore, as
a leaflet? people can take your leaflet home with them, it
means they have more time to absorb your
message and can keep a visual reminder of it.

Indeed, once distributed, the leaflet may end up

being read by many more people than the person
it was handed to, widening its impact still further.

What do you Clearly define your objective in your own mind

want to say before you start:
to the reader?
Are you looking for a response?

What action or attitude do you hope to influence?

Are you providing information?

You may be doing one, or several of these things.

But which is the most important? Sort out your
priorities before you begin to write or your
message will be muddled and the reader will get
confused.

Who is it for? Your audience will determine (1) the tone of your
leaflet, (2) the kinds of arguments used, and (3)
any action requested.

You should have information on how large the

audience is, where they are located and some
idea of their needs, attitudes and preferences.

The content The message content should appeal to the

audience. This appeal could be:

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Rational - appeals to audience's self interest.

Emotional - stirs up a positive/negative emotion
that will motivate an action.

Moral - directed to the audience's sense of what is

right. The message format should be strong in
order to catch the attention of the audience.

Layout design Your readers get bombarded with leaflets, lots of

them. Most get thrown straight in the bin. So, if
you don't want your message to end up in landfill,
you'll have to use your artistic ingenuity to make
your leaflet stand out from the crowd.

The big advantage of leaflets is that you can use

photographs, drawings and logos to attract the
reader's attention.

The layout of your leaflet needs to be thought

about very carefully. Consider what text and
pictures you want to include. If necessary, sketch
the layout on a piece of paper or try a few
different designs using computer-based publishing
programmes.

How big Leaflets are for delivering useful, reusable

should it be? information. The size and shape of the leaflet is a
major factor in its success. A leaflet that people
can't fit easily into a pocket or a bag will be
thrown away. The best size is known as A5.

Proofreading You can never over proofread your text. It doesn't

matter how good your design is, if the text is full
of mistakes. A simple typing error or spelling
mistake can destroy an entire campaign.

How to All messages should be based on the principle

write it that the purpose of your communication is to
‘cause a change of mind leading to an action’.

Evaluate the It is important to measure the effectiveness of

results your leaflet campaign. You could count up how
many responses your leaflet produced. Was the
response rate what you predicted before you
started? Keep a note of what happened, and
keep this lesson in mind for the future.

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 Problem Solver’s Handbook

What makes a good news story?

It tells readers To ensure your story is new, send it to your
something new press liaison officer or direct to the local media
within 48 hours of the event taking place.

It’s interesting It interests a large number of readers because

of one of the following reasons:

It meets local needs as a result of listening to

the community.

Something successful was achieved.

It reflects outstanding work.

Don’t take it personally if

the newspaper does not run
with your story.

You need to appreciate the

media requirement to
interest their readership
and not just provide a
public information report.

How to write it
Opening One sentence giving the ‘who, what, where, when,
paragraph why and how’ of your story.

For example “Officers from the Neighbourhood

Policing team worked with Community Payback to
improve a children’s playground.”

Second Provide more information under each of the sections,

paragraph who what and where etc.

Third Get a supporting quote. Try someone independent of

paragraph your own organisation.

Fourth If relevant, also include details of where they can get

paragraph further information or support.

Final Contact details. Give the name, rank, telephone

paragraph number and email address of an officer who can
provide more details or quotes if required.

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 Problem Solver’s Handbook

Producing Newsletters

Procedure Content
Date your newsletter. Consider what you put on the
front page - don't use a general
Columns are easier to read than update, use something positive
the full width of the page. that you have done.

See if your own organisation has Photographs on the front page

a template already prepared. It and throughout the text makes it
may be the case that you can more interesting. If using photos
only use the one format. where a member of the public
can be identified, be sure that
Use Plain English. you have their permission to use
it.
Font size 10 Arial or Verdana is
suitable on the internet whilst Details of your local priorities,
Font 12 Arial / Verdana are more how you have resolved them and
suitable on a printed document. the positive effects they are
having on residents.
Keep the same font style and
size that is set on the template Keep the information local and
throughout the whole newsletter. relevant – people want to read
about what is happening in their
Write any numbers under ten in area and what you are doing to
full instead of using digits. tackle it.

Spell out any acronyms in full Think about including a crime

the first time you use them. prevention slot which could focus
For example, Problem Solving on a crime particularly prevalent
Process (PSP). in the ward area, or it could be
seasonal advice.
You should make an effort to
make your newsletter available Include a box of useful contacts
in other formats. on the newsletter - including
addresses for local police
You could include a sentence on stations, opening hours, non-
the newsletter stating that they emergency police phone
could contact you to obtain a numbers, email addresses,
different format. website address, etc.

Explain in clear terms what are Contact your partner agencies to

police initiatives or policies. find out if they have anything
they would like to be included.

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 Problem Solver’s Handbook

Assessing a Problem Solving Initiative

You may want to assess your own
initiative or have been asked to
assess another’s. You may decide to
enter a Problem Solving Competition.
Below are a series of questions to
assist you.

You may want to grade them.

For example, the grade could be
between 1 and 10, with 10 being the
highest. You may even want to
provide feedback for the person to
justify your grade.

Defining the problem and working with partners

Was the problem defined well?

Did they find any other people who shared the problem?

The Aim
Was the aim specific?

Was the aim measurable?

Was there an end date set?

Did they consider use made of the Impact Scale?

Research and Analysis

Did they find out what was happening and why?

Did they find out when it was happening and why?

Did they find out where it was happening and why?

Did they find out who the victims were and why?

Did they find out who the offenders were and why?

Did they find out how long it had been a problem, and whether it was
getting worse or better?

Did they establish a baseline?

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Thinking about what could be done

Did they make use of research from other areas about similar
problems to their own?

Did they consider good practice from elsewhere?

Did they create opportunities to develop other ideas?

Did they make use of any sessions to generate ideas?

Negotiating the Changes

Did they explain how the changes selected supported the Aim?

Did they identify partners who they worked with to support the
changes?

Did they demonstrate consideration of the timings of the changes?

Did the changes have a clear lead for each change?

Did they have a method for monitoring the changes?

Evaluation
Did they find out whether the Aim was met?

Did they show impartiality when selecting the methods of measuring

their success?

Did they contact the people who had made the original demand?

Did they review what went well and why?

Recognising Others
Did they give any recognition to someone inside or outside of their
organisation who they consider to have supported the initiative?

Did they provide good reasons why they selected that person?

Sharing Good Practice

Did they share with others their good practice?

Did they make it clear why it was good practice?

Did they share anything that they did which did not go well?

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 Problem Solver’s Handbook

Summary of Problem Solving Processes

SARA PARTNERS

Scan P Problem Definition and Partner Identification

Define the problem. (Avoid the common mistakes)

Find your partners – those who share your problem?

A Aim Setting

Specific, Measurable and Time bound. Make use of

the Impact Scale when deciding what is achievable.

Analysis R Research and Analysis

Convergent Research (Who? What’s going on?

Where? When? How much? How long?). Analysis
(Why?) ‘Making sense of what you’ve found. Who is
making the demand, what do they want and why?
Establish a Baseline.

Response T Thinking Creatively

Identify existing good practice. Think about other

ways to resolve the problem.

N Negotiating the Changes

Set out your actions and decide who is leading on

each of them. Monitor the responses to see that
they are working as intended.

Assess E Evaluation

Impact Evaluation. Was the aim met? If not, why

not? Process Evaluation. What went well and why?
What did not go well and why?

R Recognition and Reward

Recognise people for their help and effort.

S Sharing ‘Good Practice’

How are you going to share what you have learnt

with others?

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