While the crime rate in the City of Lowell, Massachusetts was mostly consistent from 2003 to 2007, the city experienced a 15 percent spike in crime from 2007 to 2008, which was mainly driven by increases in car thefts, burglaries, larcenies, aggravated assaults, and robberies. In 2009 there were just 2.1 Lowell Police Department (LPD) officers per 1,000 residents, well below the Northeast average of 2.9 officers per 1,000 residents. Faced with a growing crime problem, a decreasing budget and fewer sworn officers, the LPD obtained SPI funding in 2010 to implement place-based and offender-based problem-oriented policing strategies to target drug and drug-related crimes. The LPD felt that in this time of declining resources, the department could still strive to do more with less by identifying effective strategies, establishing clear goals and developing a detailed implementation plan.
