Once upon a time, an elite team was assembled to enforce the ban against Hawaiian pizzas in Rome. In the last ten years, they implemented a strategy comprising three pillars:

This fictional story bears the marks of many crimes that plague our society: phone theft, burglary, drug trafficking, sexual assault, knife crime, and more.

There are two possible endings to this story:

Scenario A

The law enforcement team was reorganised, and a new leader quickly put forward a “new” strategy. Armed with years of experience, he was confident it would work. What he didn’t realise was that this exact approach had already been attempted two decades earlier—and had failed to reduce the problem then, too.

The expected results failed to materialise. Eventually, the leader stepped down, and his replacement proposed a new approach. From that point on, the team would educate customers; arrest rogue pizzaioli, and confiscate pineapple cans. Tomorrow is another Groundhog Day….

Scenario B

In the alternative scenario, a new analyst joined the team. After applying crime scripting and analysis techniques, she proposed to secretly fit pineapple sensors inside pizza ovens. When a Hawaiian pizza was being cooked, the device would send an encrypted signal to a command-control centre, which would then track the delivery driver and manipulate traffic lights in real time to extend the delivery time. Customers would grow dissatisfied with the texture and taste of Hawaiian pizzas, and gradually revert to ordering pizzas with traditional toppings.

Conclusion

Choosing between Scenario A and Scenario B comes down to personal taste—both regarding Hawaiian pizzas and the extent to which the state should interfere in individual matters. The high level of creative thinking displayed in Scenario B is, however, the main takeaway from this story:

Systematic crime scripting and analysis is the key to identifying new responses to crime.