Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Wow
Wow
John Blundell
Roy Bailey
Introduction
In his recent article in Economic Affairs, John Blundell (Blundell, 2007) asserts
that police officers must patrol alone wherever possible, citing the evidence
from an American study that solo patrol is no more dangerous than working in
pairs. Moreover, the same study claims that the deployment of solo patrols
actually improves the response times (Skolnick and Bayley, 1986, p. 101).
Blundell, in developing this theme, argues that foot and bike officers should
also be deployed on solo patrol. Such a policy, he notes, would lead to a
much better relationship with the public. This contrasts to the current position,
where officers predominantly patrol in pairs, talking and interacting with each
other and failing to engage meaningfully with the community. Not only does
this practice lead to alienation from the public, it is also wasteful of scarce
resources, effectively halving police presence. Solo patrol, conversely, would
enable officers to establish communication and trust, leading to a greater
degree of public confidence in the police. Such a visible and consistent police
presence would also encourage the public to pass on vital information and
intelligence, resulting in higher detection rates.
The first aim of my research was to examine the available literature in order to
determine the relevant issues. Once these had been identified, it was
necessary to test the perceptions of patrol officers, and a questionnaire was
devised to obtain and analyse the views of a representative sample of officers
from three different police areas within the Thames Valley force. Ninety four
officers were interviewed. In addition to the survey, data was collected from
the central command and control computer over a seven day period covering
the same three areas. The intention was to compare and contrast the findings
with those gleaned from the survey and then to comment in the context of
prior research.
Literature Review
The key findings from the review of the literature highlight some important
issues. Dealing first with policing style, the 1981 Police foundation study,
based on a survey of twenty eight cities, and an experiment in Newark, New
Jersey, reported a distinct improvement in the fear of crime when officers were
deployed on foot patrol. In addition, there was an evident increase in
confidence vis-à-vis neighbourhood safety. Moreover, the police began to
view the police service more positively (Wilson and Kelling, 1982; Moore and
Kelling, 1983). Policing style has a discernible impact on crime detection,
since the prime determinant of success is information given to the police by
members of the public (Reiss, 1971; Chatterton, 1976; Sanders, 1977;
Ericson, 1981; Mawby, 1979; Burrows and Tarling, 1987; Steer, 1980). Less
than 25% of crime is solved by real detective work. The importance of this is
that the police cannot afford to alienate the public. Without public cooperation,
police effectiveness would be terminally impaired.
The public’s view of policing is at odds with that of the police. There are
significant differences between the police and the public in terms of job
evaluation. The service element of policing is rated more highly by the public
than by the police (Jones and Levi, 1983). The police were often criticised for
not patrolling local streets, for not possessing key interpersonal skills and for
generally being out of step with the local community. McConville and
Shepherd, 1992 (page 44) noted that:
General patrol cars were passively ‘laid up’ for long periods of time waiting for
something to happen. Furthermore, the general perception of those drivers
was that they were there to respond to incidents. Not only was their time not
used constructively, their supervisors appear to condone the practice (Gray,
unpublished research by Kent police inspector, 1987)
There is a strong belief among officers that they are undermanned and that
they had the greatest difficulty in coping with the everyday demand, let alone
major incidents. The researchers found no evidence in support of this claim
and that even though there were sufficient resources, supervisors were
unwilling, or unable, to break out of the typical pattern of deployment and use
their officers proactively (Shapland and Hobbs, 1988)
The arguments cited against single patrol by operational officers can, in the
main, be rebutted. These centre on safety, effectiveness and morale.
Senior police managers (management cops) would not appear to have the
same views and a policy of single patrolling would be welcomed by the
majority because of the positive impact it would have in relation to several
problems. Firstly, it would enable a more effective use of scarce resources
and would release officers for deployment in more proactive capacities.
Secondly, it would improve the relationship with the public, as more foot patrol
officers could be deployed. In addition, there would be more personal
interactions with the public. Solo patrol officers would be more civil and less
aggressive in their dealings with the public. This means there would be fewer
complaints against the police. This is an interesting point since research
suggests that complaints against the police involving allegations of serious
assault are much more likely to occur when two or more officers are deployed.
Indeed, nine out of every ten concerned incidents involving two or more
officers. This requires careful interpretation, though, since the incidents in
question had attracted a heavy police presence (Maguire and Corbett, 1991)
However, assaults on police are more prevalent where double crewed patrols
are involved, perhaps suggesting a confrontation is more likely when two or
more officers are in attendance (Cooper and Godley, 1981)
Data was obtained centrally from the command and control computer for each
of the three police areas (Oxford, Slough and High Wycombe) over a seven
day period. The results, in the main, supported the survey findings and
confirmed the patterns highlighted in previous studies.
Overall, there was little difference in the average time taken to deal with
incidents, irrespective of deployment status. Although all three police areas
appeared reluctant to use foot patrols and area beat officers for incident
response, the average time, when they were used, was only a few seconds
slower than for single crewed cars. This, to some extent, contradicts the
evidence from the Shapland and Hobbs study.
Conclusions
It is clear from all the evidence available that police deployment strategies
have a major impact on the critical relationship between the police and the
public. Importantly, without the full cooperation and consent of the public, the
police would be unable to function and the crime detection rate would sink to
an unacceptable level. Furthermore, the public’s view of policing would
appear to be out of line with that of operational officers. Whilst the public
emphasises the service aspect of policing, the street officers see themselves
as crime fighters, placing little value on ‘community policing’. Whilst there has
been considerable rhetoric from senior police managers about the value of re-
engaging with their communities, they will face enormous challenges from
their officers, not least because such strategies will involve the imposition of
solo patrol in many instances.
What is needed now is a real commitment from chief officers to support the
introduction of community policing. There must be a career structure and an
appraisal system which visibly recognises and rewards area beat officers.
There should be prominent role models within the service who have achieved
success via the community policing route. The default deployment strategy
should be solo patrol and officers should be encouraged to engage with their
communities. Indeed, this should be assessed in both quantitative and
qualitative terms. There may even be an argument for including community
feedback so that the views of the public are given some force. There will
remain a need for double crewing but it should be just one of a range of
deployment strategies based on identifiable need. Officers should be actively
discouraged from patrolling in pairs and supervisors should spend more time
out on the streets supporting their staff and enforcing solo patrol. Given the
inherent cultural challenges, none of this will be accomplished easily.
However, for the police service to regain and then maintain the support of the
public, real change is necessary. The time for lip service is over.
References
Bailey, R.J. (1992) Double Crewing: An evaluation of the arguments for, and
against, the double crewing of police patrol (panda) cars, MA dissertation,
University of Reading
Bardswell,V. E and Bentley, F.H. (1971) Traffic patrol cars: single or double
crewing : London: Home Office, Police Scientific Development Branch, 1971
PSDB Report 8/71
Cooper, K.P.D. and Godley, M (1981) Review of single and double manning
policies in traffic departments : London: Home Office
EKBLOM, P and HEAL, K (1982) Police response to calls from the public:
London: Home Office, 1982 Research and Planning Unit Paper 9
Ericson, R. (1981) Making Crime: A study of Detective Work, Torronto:
Butterworths
JONES, S.J.; LEVI, M (1983) Police and the majority: the neglect of the
obvious?: Police Journal, October-December, 1983, 351-363
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Moore, M.H. and Kelling, G L (1983) To Serve and Protect - Learning From
Police History: Public Interest Journal, Issue:70 Dated:(Winter 1983), 49-65
Reiss, Albert J. Jr. (1971) The police and the public. New Haven: Yale
University Press
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Six American Cities, New York: The Free Press.
Steer, D (1980) Uncovering crime: the police role. The Royal Commission on
Criminal Procedure Research Study No. 7. London: HMSO
Wilson, J.Q and Kelling, G.L (1982) Broken Windows: The Police and
Neighbourhood Safety, The Atlantic Monthly, March, 29 – 37
Abstract