(Phys.org)—A pair of researchers, one with Louisiana State University, the other the University of Michigan has conducted a study on the benefits of proactive policing and have found an example where removing it appeared to lower crime rates. In their paper published in the journal Nature Human Behavior, Christopher Sullivan and Zachary O’Keeffe outline their crime data analysis for a time period when proactive policing was halted and describe what they found. David Weisburd with George Mason University offers a short history of studies done on proactive policing in the same journal issue and compares them with what the researchers in this new effort found.