Using police, census, and liquor license data from the January-June 1993 period, the study identified the most dense concentrations of places, events in these places, and incidents in surrounding areas. Place and space attributes of 49 high incident places were compared to those of 49 low incident places, and the relationship between places and incidents in two police districts was examined. Several place types emerged, each of which had a different relationship to crime attraction, generation, and control, and each of which would require different intervention strategies. Hot spot areas occurring in taverns and liquor stores known to the police did not necessarily coincide with dense clusters of the establishments themselves. Likewise, such areas did not coincide with areas where crime levels were generally high or with areas characterized by a high level of lethal violence related to alcohol use. Rather, high crime levels in hot spot areas reflected general crime patterns. A program of intensive police and citizen patrols to reduce street crime is currently being evaluated for the Chicago area. 84 references, 19 notes, 3 tables, and 6 figures