Police Work: What Is the SARA Model?

The SARA model is the main problem-oriented policing strategy that breaks down problem solving into 4 simple steps that are easy for police officers to remember and understand.

The model was created in 1987 within the Newport News Police Department by John Eck and William Spelman, who were researching and experimenting with problem-oriented policing techniques.

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The Center for Problem-Solving Policing outlines and promotes the use of the SARA model, along with other problem-solving models.

SARA stands for scanning, analysis, response, and assessment. Each of these problem-solving steps are examined in more detail below:

Scanning
This first step requires police to recognize recurring issues and their respective outcomes within their communities.

Police forces must then prioritize these issues and develop goals to resolve the issue at hand. Officers must then further examine problems within the larger issue.

Analysis
To analyze a problem, police need to identify and understand the causes and entailments of an issue as well as collect data on the problem.

Through research, the analysis step makes officers specify current responses to an issue, the scope of an issue, resources, and potential reasons for the issue’s occurrence.

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Response
The response step enables police to use their research from the analysis step to brainstorm ideas for intervention, select intervention options, outline plans and objectives, and implement proposed plans.

Assessment
The final step of the SARA model takes place after forces have tried to solve a problem.

Assessment requires police to evaluate the success of their implemented plan and collect data regarding its outcomes. During this step, police forces also determine whether their initial goals were met and make an effort to better ensure continued success.

Other models important to problem-oriented policing include the problem analysis triangle, which focuses on identifying the actual problem, and the Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy (CAPS) model, which is a 5 step problem-solving model similar to SARA.

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