Self-Selection Policing

This chapter puts the versatile-offender approach to the sword by introducing the Self-Selection Policing (SSP) approach. A case is made for SSP to be adopted by police as a complimentary way of identifying active, serious criminals, by the minor crimes they commit. The argument made is that a growing body of research shows that police if police are encouraged to adopt the SSP approach into their current ‘policing armoury’, then more active, serious criminals will be uncovered and brought to justice, but that this first necessitates a change in police thinking towards the versatile offender. The chapter concludes with some suggestions for how police can best employ and implement SSP and a checklist is provided to help those interested in conducting SSP interventions of their own.