2. Field Operations & Stats Field Operations have two primary functions: (1) Patrol (2) Investigation Has the greatest deal of diversity problems & has the most influence on the publics perception on police Stats on Field Operations
3. Field Operations Continued.. In some small departments, patrolling & investigating are not separate units. Generalist: an officer who performs a variety of activities Specialist: an officer who performs a particular kind of activity such as investigation, as distinguished from a generalist
4. The Patrol Function Police Patrol has been referred to as the “backbone of policing” Goals of Patrol (1) Crime prevention & deterrence (2) Apprehension of offenders (3) creation of a sense of community security and satisfaction (4) Provision of non-crime related services (5) Traffic control or community policing (6) Identifying & solving community problems with respect to crime and disorder
5. Patrol Function Continued… 3 Functions of Patrol (1) Law Enforcement: making arrests, issue citations, conduct investigations, general attempt to deter criminal activity (2) Order Maintenance: may or may not involve a violation of the law (usually minor), in which officers tend to use alternatives other than arrest (3) Social Service: taking reports and providing information and assistance to public (anything from helping a stranded motorist, or helping a Grandma get home)
6. Historical Development Two critical developments of the 1930’s helped change the nature of patrol officers (1) Greatly increased the use of patrol cars (2) Development of the Uniform Crime Report (UCR) Two developments along with the influence of O.W. Wilson’s bureaucratic/paramilitary approach to police management (1) Increased professionalism (2) Development of radio & telephone
7. Terrorism & Patrol De Guzman (2002) argues that patrol work will need to be more “target oriented,” and with greater emphasis placed on “event” analysis in addition to crime analysis. Target Orientation: concept used by officers to asses likely targets in their district Event Analysis: suggests that police should be aware of important celebrations, ideologies, and anniversaries of known activists, terrorist, or groups and attempt to determine whether these events may be connected to possible terrorists acts
9. Resource Allocation Police resources have been allocated equally over 24hr period Day Shift: 8AM-4PM Swing Shift: 4PM-Midnight Graveyard Shift: Midnight-8AM Two most important variables for determining allocation are: Location: assists departments in dividing up a community into beats (more problems = smaller beat) Time: helps determine how officers will be grouped into shifts
10. Computerized Crime Mapping Assists officers about where to concentrate their patrol activities. Date obtained from department’s Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD) and records management systems (which stores and maintain calls for service, record incidents and arrests) are matched with addresses and other geographic information such as beats/districts then maps are computer generated for a geographic area In 2000, 15% of State & Local departments used it and 13% of Sheriffs departments use it
11. Random Patrol Kansas City Preventive Patrol Exerpiment PURPOSE: 1 yr experiment to determine the effort of random patrol STRATEGY: divide patrol into different levels of patrol Reactive Beat: no preventive patrol Proactive Beat: assigned 2-3x the normal amount of patrol units Control Beats: maintained normal levels of patrol units
12. Random Patrol Cont… Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experiment Cont.. RESULTS 4 patrol conditions appeared to have no affect (1) crime rates deemed suppressible by patrol (burglary, auto-theft, larceny involving auto access) (2) citizens attitudes toward police (3) feeling of security (4) rate of crime CONCLUSION: Most departments devote 40-60% of time to preventive control, so is this a waste of time? K.C. Police suggest: traditional preventive patrol is ineffective and the time devoted to it could be used more effectively
13. Response Time Results have found that the average citizen waits too long (6mins) to call the police. They often call a relative first- and then there is virtually no chance to make an arrest at the scene, regardless of quick police respond Results show citizen satisfaction with police departments rely less on quick response than on knowing the approximate ETA of officer Found that calls can be assigned to different priority levels
14. Differential Response to Calls Differential response programs classify calls according to their degree of seriousness and are responded to by (1) Immediate response by sworn officer (2) Delayed response by sworn officer (3) No direct response put report taken by phone, mail, or citizen comes to police station Research on differential police response (DPR) indicates that alternative strategies (1) significantly lowering costs, (2) increasing effectiveness, (3) didn’t effect the citizens level of satisfaction, and (4) crime didn’t increase
