SARA was first proposed in 1987 by John E. Eck and William Spelman of the Police Executive Research Forum.23 Police interventions based on SARA increased as a result of the broken windows theory of crime first proposed in the 1980s.4
SARA consists of four stages:5
Eck and Spelman identified the "Analysis" stage as the most important of the four stages.6 The "Assessment" stage was noted as "often the most ignored part of the SARA model" by the Evidence-Based Policing App.7
Transport for London created a revised approach to policing based on SARA, which they called SPATIAL. Scan, Prioritize, Analyse, Task, Intervene, Assess and Learn. Adding the step "Prioritize" was judged necessary, as limits to funding mean not all problems can be addressed.8
"Practice Profile: Problem-Oriented Policing". CrimeSolutions.gov. Retrieved 23 July 2020. https://www.crimesolutions.gov/PracticeDetails.aspx?ID=32 ↩
Burton, Steve; McGregor, Mandy (2018). "Enhancing SARA: A new approach in an increasingly complex world". Crime Science. 7. doi:10.1186/s40163-018-0078-4. https://doi.org/10.1186%2Fs40163-018-0078-4 ↩
Eck, J. E.; Spelman, W. (1987). Problem Solving: Problem-Oriented Policing in Newport News (PDF) (Report). Police Executive Research Forum. https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/Digitization/111964NCJRS.pdf ↩
Soss, Joe; Weaver, Vesla (2017). "Police Are Our Government: Politics, Political Science, and the Policing of Race–Class Subjugated Communities". Annual Review of Political Science. 20: 565–591. doi:10.1146/annurev-polisci-060415-093825. https://doi.org/10.1146%2Fannurev-polisci-060415-093825 ↩
"Refresher: SARA Model and Problem-Oriented Policing". The Evidence-Based Policing App. Police Foundation. Retrieved 23 July 2020. https://www.evidence-basedpolicing.org/refresher-sara-model-and-problem-oriented-policing/ ↩