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

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Finally, after a very successful tag line and logo contest (It’s OK to Report Gun Violence in 

Joliet), Joliet police were unable to track the number of tips received as a result of the program. 

Tips from citizens were routed to the police department’s hot line. Although the hot line received 

527 calls from citizens resulting in 122 arrests, Joliet police were not able to determine which 

were the result of the gun violence reduction project. 

 

The Will County Adult Probation Department also successfully participated in the Strategic 

Tactical Deployment effort. A supervisor from their office attended every STD meeting, shared 

information with Joliet Police personnel, and was willing to cooperate in any way possible. 

However, the fact that the court did not allow its probation officers to make on-view arrests of 

probationers found in violation of the conditions of their probation, limited the potential effects 

of probation violation enforcement. Additionally, in spite of meetings with the Will County 

State’s Attorney, Joliet police were not able to create a system of imposing geographic 

limitations precluding gang members from returning to gang specific gang locations. Nor was 

Joliet able to create a system to disseminate probation restrictions to Joliet police personnel.  

The Illinois Department of Corrections also successfully participated in the Strategic 

Tactical Deployment program. IDOC representatives attended STD meetings, exchanged 

information with Joliet police personnel, and conducted parole sweeps throughout the city of 

Joliet. Unless arrested on a new charge, no one was taken into custody by the IDOC for a parole 

violation. All violations were referred to the Illinois Prison Review Board for adjudication. 

While IDOC personnel referred all violators to the review board, they reported that the board 

was reluctant to revoke the parole of anyone found guilty of a minor technical violation. Illinois 

prisons currently house 14,000 more inmates than they were designed to hold. As a result, there 

is great reluctance to revoke parole of an inmate for a technical violation.  

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Quantitative Methods  

 

The quantitative component of this project was used to determine whether the STD program 

had an impact on gun violence in Joliet. Analyses were conducted to answer the following 

questions: 1) Was violent crime reduced in the Strategic Tactical Deployment areas? 2) What 

was the effect of probation/parole cooperation? 3) What factors (demographic characteristics) 

other than the STD program may have been responsible for reductions in violent crime?  

Strategic Tactical Deployment Areas 

The Joliet Police Department is broken down into three districts: East, Central, and West. 

Both the East and Central Districts have six sectors (beats). The West District has five sectors. 

The average size of Joliet’s seventeen sectors is 2.2 square miles. Virtually all Strategic Tactical 

Deployments occurred in Sectors 11, 16, and 22. The STD area was chosen as the unit of 

analysis. While most police departments limit the collection of data to the beat/sector level, the 

Joliet Police Department also collects a wide range of data at the STD level. Four officers 

typically worked each Strategic Tactical Deployment. Over the course of the study period Joliet 

police devoted approximately 5,375 man hours to the STD effort. During this time, the officers 

engaged in directed patrol within the STD areas, conducted field interviews of suspects, engaged 

in foot patrol, issued parking and traffic citations, and made misdemeanor and felony arrests 

when appropriate.    

 

Rational choice theory argues that hot-spot policing deters crime because of the added police 

presence and the resulting increased chance of apprehension. Following this line of reasoning, it 

could be argued that police activity is directly related to the amount of crime in a given area. As 

such, it is hypothesized that the following police activities had a direct effect on violent crime in 

the STD areas: violent index crime arrests, unlawful use of a weapon arrests, narcotic arrests, 

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disorderly conduct arrests, field interview cards written, firearms recovered, and traffic citations 

issued.  

The Data 

 

The data provided by the Joliet Police Department (JPD) were gathered in the form of 

monthly counts for shots fired and robberies from January 2005 through September 2012. In 

total, there were 93 observation points: 24 pre-STD monthly counts and 69 post-STD monthly 

counts. The post-STD data points were divided into two program components: STD only (46 

months) and STD + Probation/Parole (23 months).  The enhanced STD program component 

consisted of periodic probation and parole sweeps across the city.  During the 23 months of 

program operation, there were 1,320 probation contacts resulting in 737 arrests (55.8%) and 

1,605 parole contacts resulting in 928 arrests (57.8%).  A similar percentage of probation and 

parole arrests were made in the STD areas (sectors 11, 16, 22), 33.9% and 35.2%, respectively. 

 

Joliet had experienced 3,989 reported shots fired and 1,242 robberies over the 93-month 

study period. Of the 3,989 reported shots fired, however, 79.3% (3,165) were confirmed by the 

Joliet police officers. Thus, all subsequent data related to shots fired are based on confirmed 

reports.  The table below summarizes the number of shots fired and robberies by the respective 

program components.

 

Table 4 

Number of Shots Fired and Robberies, January 2005 – September 2012 

  Pre-STD STD only 

STD + Probation/Parole   

 

Totals 

 

(1/05-12/06) 

  (1/07-10/10) (11/10-12/11) 

Shots Fired   

746 (23.6%)   

 

1631 (51.5%) 

788 (24.9%)   

3165 

Robberies  270 

(21.7%) 

  690 

(55.6%) 

282 

(22.7%) 

  1242 

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