1. ¹Centre for Industrial Management, Catholic University Leuven, Belgium. E-mail: Mark.Moonen@cib.kuleuven.be
2. ²Centre for Industrial Management, Catholic University Leuven, Belgium. E-mail: Dirk.Cattrysse@cib.kuleuven.be
3. ³Centre for Industrial Management, Catholic University Leuven, Belgium. E-mail: Dirk.VanOudheusen@cib.kuleuven.be

Abstract

From time to time the media are flooded with news about tragic or fatal ram raids, armed robberies and other violent crimes. Given the high impact of these crimes, they receive the highest priority from the police forces. Regularly operational measures are announced to improve the effectiveness of the police forces and to guarantee quicker responses to these crimes. The proposals range from more directed patrolling, over additional capacity, to the installation of alarm systems. Recently developed OR models can help to weigh the (cost) effectiveness of many of these proposals and to improve the implementation and organisation of current and new resources. In this paper, an application of such techniques is illustrated by means of a case study in the region of Kortrijk, Belgium.