Senior Sergeant Darren Green is a dedicated member of the Queensland Police Service (QPS) with extensive experience in evidence-based policing. As a confirmed PhD candidate, he combines academic rigor with practical expertise to improve community safety outcomes, efficiently. Darren’s passion lies in evidence-based policing, where he takes a lead role in supporting members of the QPS to implement and test innovative and problem-oriented responses to chronic challenges faced by first response officers.
Presentation
Identifying Operational Efficiencies: Exploring the relationship between Random Breath Tests (RBT) and Crime
Mr Darren Green1, Dr Sarah Bennett, Dr Michelle Sydes, Dr Jonathan Corcoran
1Queensland Police Service, , Australia
As the demand for policing resources continues to rise, the capacity to identify and measure operational efficiencies becomes crucial for maintaining effective service delivery. One way to achieve this is to strategically deploy and adapt existing policing activities, such as Random Breath Testing (RBT), to achieve broader crime control benefits. In Australia, over 10 million breath tests were conducted in 2022, yet the impact of this highly visible police presence on nearby crime remains underexplored, despite the significant resourcing commitment.
This presentation delves into three years of RBT and crime data from a Queensland Police District. Specifically, it will examine localised geographic and temporal patterns of breath tests, their impact on crime, and the effects of varying dosage (number of tests) and frequency of site visits. Findings reveal that RBT locations are not randomly distributed but rather clustered in space and time. Additionally, an increase in other offenses (such as drug-related incidents) during and after RBT operations is observed.
However, repeat RBT visits over time and higher test numbers per visit are shown to be associated with significant, short term, reductions in victimisation. The operational and research implications for road safety, crime prevention, and resource allocation are also discussed.