Across the United States, there has been widespread adoption of community and problem-oriented policing philosophies and strategies, followed by dramatic decreases in violent crime. Homicide has been viewed as relatively immune from police suppression efforts. This has raised questions about what the police can reasonably be expected to accomplish with regard to homicide. This article examines a joint effort by the U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance and the city of Richmond, CA, in the application of lessons of problem-oriented policing to homicide work. In 1995, the Bureau of Justice Assistance funded a Comprehensive Homicide Initiative to pilot application of violence reduction strategies, reflective of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) recommendations. The Richmond Police Department adopted a problem-oriented philosophy searching for involvement, support, and approval of the residents of the community. The article considers the impact of the change in policing philosophy and practice in Richmond with a three-pronged analysis. The anticipated findings were seen as providing evidence regarding the potential role of the problem-oriented policing philosophy and the Comprehensive Homicide Initiative in the changes in Richmond’s homicides. Homicide data from all other California cities of similar size or larger were analyzed for years 1985 to 1998. The analyses indicated that the nature and pattern of murders changed notably following adoption of the new policing philosophy. The Comprehensive Homicide Initiative involves the extension of the problem-oriented philosophy to police homicide work. Additional research is recommended to test the idea that homicide prevention is a critical police responsibility. References