Evaluation of Clear, Hold, Build: A local response to serious and organised crime

Product Description

In January 2023, the Home Office (HO) announced the national expansion of Clear, Hold, Build (CHB) to every police force in England and Wales by March 2024, to improve the response to serious and organised crime (SOC) at the local level. The core aims of CHB are to reduce the SOC threat, reduce crime, and help local communities become more resilient to SOC in the future.

This evaluation included, to some extent, 13 pilot sites across 10 police forces. It aimed to understand the effect of CHB on crime and community perceptions and resilience, and to understand the factors affecting implementation. To address these aims, the HO commissioned an independent impact evaluation by Frazer-Nash Consultancy and Crest Advisory, while HO analysts undertook the process evaluation. The impact evaluation had 2 key workstreams:

• crime analysis: aggregate-level impacts on 5 crime groupings were estimated using a combined synthetic controls and difference in differences approach – these crime groupings were: total police recorded crime (PRC); antisocial behaviour (ASB) proxy (arson, criminal damage, and public order offences); acquisitive crime (burglary (residential and business), robbery, and theft of a vehicle); drugs (possession and trafficking of drugs); and violence (violence with and without injury)
• community survey: impact on community perceptions of crime, safety, and resilience was estimated by conducting and analysing a retrospective survey

The process evaluation used a range of methods to understand the factors affecting implementation. These were: a proforma survey, in-depth interviews with police and delivery partners from 6 pilot sites and an online stakeholder survey.