Hot Products: understanding, anticipating and reducing demand for stolen goods

The Policing and Reducing Crime Unit (PRC Unit) was formed in 1998 as a result of the merger of the Police Research Group (PRG) and the Research and Statistics Directorate. The PRC Unit is now one part of the Research, Development and Statistics Directorate of the Home Office. The PRC Unit carries out and commissions research in the social and management sciences on policing and crime reduction, broadening the role that PRG played. The PRC Unit has now combined PRG's two main series into the Police Research Series, containing PRG's earlier work. This series will present research material on crime prevention and detection as well as police management and organisation issues. Research commissioned by PRG will appear as a PRC Unit publication. Throughout the text there may be references to PRG and these now need to be understood as relating to the PRC Unit. Copies of this publication can be made available in formats accessible to the visually impaired on request. C Forewor d This report focuses attention on the products that are most likely to be taken by thieves. Theft is concentrated upon relatively few products. These products share a number of common attributes in that they are generally concealable, removable, available, valuable, enjoyable and disposable. Increasing our understanding of what thieves are likely to take, and why, is particularly important for crime reduction strategies aimed at tackling the underlying causes of crime. In particular, this report should assist the police greatly in tackling markets for stolen goods. Earlier work on hot spots of crime and repeat victimisation have both stimulated important crime reduction initiatives and there is every reason to believe that the information contained in this report will be valuable for the development of new strategies which will be of equal importance. Acknowledgements One pleasure of preparing this review has come from reading through many of the publications in this series. Not only have I learned a lot, but also I have discovered how much I am still in sympathy with the Home Office research agenda. Despite having departed for academia so many years ago, I still find that being policy-oriented makes Criminology more personally rewarding. Because it provides a reality check, I also believe that it makes for better science. Having said that, I should acknowledge how much I have benefited from discussions with my academic colleague at Rutgers, Marcus Felson, who pioneered the study of …