Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Week 04 Field Ops
Week 04 Field Ops
Week 04 Field Ops
Police Patrol
FUNCTIONS OF PATROL
Deter Crime
Enhance sense of public safety through
police presence
To make officers available for service
delivery by physically distributing them
throughout space
Police Patrol
ORGANIZATION & DELIVERY OF PATROL
Number of Officers: Police-Population
Ratio
Has little relationship to crime rate or calls for
service
Cities with high crime often have more officers
Hot Spots
TYPES OF PATROL
Most (84%) police patrol is automobile
Cars provide more efficient patrol than foot
Cover more area, pass each point more often
Patrol in an unpredictable manner
Respond quickly to calls for service
Shift from foot to car occurs from 1920-1950s
Consequences of patrol cars
loss of direct contact with citizens (especially lawabiding)
citizens may begin to see police as occupying
army
Police Operations
Foot Patrol
Police-community relations crises of 1960s
restores use of foot patrols
Also important in community policing
models
Costs:
coverage area is much more limited
expensive
Benefits:
gains in police-community relations
Styles of Patrol
Individual Styles of officers are important
Amount of work accomplished (productivity:
volume of arrests, response to calls for service)
depends on officer work style
Active
Officer-initiated actions (stops, questioning, traffic,
frisking)
Re-active
Citizen initiated work: Officers may be passive or
active in their response to complaints
Styles of Patrol
Supervisory Styles also important
How closely is patrol work scrutinized by shift supervisor?
Expectations for appropriate police behavior &
productivity impact patrol
Research on Patrol Sergeants supports this idea
Active role of Sergeants often is in terms of suggestion:
protection of discretion as a fundamental part of police
work
Organizational Styles
JQ Wilson: 3 Styles:
Watchman: emphasizes peacekeeping; not aggressive in law
enforcement; little control over officers
Legalistic: aggressive crime-fighting; greater control over officers
Service: responsiveness to community expectations; more
common in low-crime communities
Patrol Effectiveness
Research Design
Measured impact of different levels of patrol
Criminal Activity
Reported Crime
Arrest
Victimization Survey
Community Perceptions and Attitudes
Officer Behavior and Dept Practices
Patrol Effectiveness
Explanations for non-findings?
Patrol spread too thin
Crimes occurring indoors unaffected
Phantom effect of patrol
Levels of patrol were only thing tested, not officer
activities
Police Operations
Police Investigations
1) Police are expected to help prevent crime (most frequently
through patrol)
Basic element of COP & POP
Rejects traditional model that police are responsible for
crime control
2) Apprehend Criminals
Requirements:
a. learning of a crime
b. official recording
c. attempt to ID and arrest
Police Operations
Police Investigations
Factors influencing the reporting of crime:
Learn through reactive response most common
Citizen reporting highly discretionary (gatekeepers)
Police rarely discover crimes in progress
Victims report roughly 35% of the time
Influences on reporting: seriousness, violence, injury,
expense of loss
Reasons for not reporting: crime unimportant,
pessimistic about anything being done, crimes as private
Police Operations
Police Investigations
Myths about Detective Work: The CSI
complex: Exciting, Requires courage/skill, all
crime is solvable
Organization of Investigations: located in
different unit, size varies tremendously
Detective Position: high status, discretion,
autonomy, no uniforms, defined measures of
performance
Status varies by unit (homicide highest)
Police Operations
Police Investigations
Investigation is 2 Staged Process:
1) Preliminary Investigation (5 Steps)
- ID and arrest of suspect
- Aid to victims (medical)
- Securing crime scene
- Collecting physical evidence
- Preparing preliminary report
Patrol makes 80% of all arrests (suspect
near the scene)
Police Operations
Police Investigations
2) Follow up investigations
case is assigned to detectives for follow up
- routine activities: interviews, crime scene
- secondary activities: canvassing witnesses,
discussing case with super., collecting evidence
- tertiary activities: discussion of case with
other officers, interviewing suspects, checking
records, conducting stakeouts
Police Operations
Police Investigations
Arrest discretion: arrests occur in only about
half of the situations where sufficient
evidence exists to arrest (Black 1984)
Officers influenced by situational factors:
severity, evidence, victim behavior,
victim/suspect relationship, suspect
demeanor
What is an arrest?
4 Perspectives:
1. Legal: When a suspect is not free to leave
2. Behavioral: may include command to stop;
physical restraint (cuffs)
3. Subjective: Citizen perception
4. Official: arrest report filed, records vary in
different departments and at different stages
Consequence? Many people believe an arrest has
occurred when no record of an arrest exists
Informants
Especially useful in victimless crimes (drugs); basis of exchange
creates appearances of conflicts of interest; integrity of police;
quality of informant info
Supply Reduction
Demand Reduction
Drug Education Programs (DARE)
Largely ineffective
Hate Crimes
Gangs
Domestic Violence?