There's a lot of existing research here. Generally, the studies show that directing police patrols to high-crime areas does reduce reported crimes. For example,

There's a lot of existing research here. Generally, the studies show that directing police patrols to high-crime areas does reduce reported crimes. For example, a recent systematic review of studies found that increasing policing to high-crime areas "generates small but noteworthy crime reductions, and these crime control benefits diffuse into areas immediately surrounding targeted crime hot spots." [1] The question of whether policing simply pushes crime to another area is a popular one, and there's been a lot of work to answer it. It appears the answer is usually "no." Crime depends on several factors existing in one place: opportunities for crime, a lack of guardians, and motivated offenders. If you fix one area, the crime will spread to adjacent areas only if those three factors are present there. The fairness and equity problems are, of course, severe. You may reduce crime with hotspots policing, but as the systematic review notes, "only a small number of studies examine the impacts of hot spots policing on police-community relations," or what disproportionate effects they have on any specific group. [1] https://doi.org/10.1080/07418825.2012.673632 https://doi.org/10.1080/07418825.2012.673632