Abstract
This study assesses the effectiveness of law-enforcement efforts against street crime by the Medan City Police (Polrestabes Medan) and identifies internal and external factors affecting implementation. It employs a socio-legal (empirical-juridical) method based on purposive interviews with three Polrestabes Medan officers conducted on 13–14 March 2026, a literature review, and analysis of the manuscript's street-crime report data for 2021–2025. Effectiveness is operationalized through Soerjono Soekanto's legal-effectiveness factors and the available indicators concerning legal basis, patrol implementation, personnel and facilities, community participation, and crime-report trends. The findings show that routine patrols and the JCS (Jaga, Cegah, Sigap or Guard, Prevent, Respond) program function as preventive instruments, but the available evidence is insufficient to establish that JCS itself caused a reduction in street crime because the program began only in December 2025 and no equivalent post-launch time series is available. Effectiveness is therefore assessed as partial and constrained by staffing, the need for stronger program evaluation, community participation, socioeconomic conditions, and narcotics abuse reported by police informants as one relevant risk factor. The study recommends measurable patrol standards, data-based crime mapping, stronger community-reporting mechanisms, and improved inter-functional and inter-agency coordination.