Purpose and Effectiveness of Police Patrol
The Purpose and Effectiveness of Police Patrols
To begin studying this topic I’d like to provide a brief definition of a patrol officer. In law enforcement, patrol officers are uniformed police officers assigned to patrol specified geographic areas. They are the officers most commonly encountered by the public. Their duties include responding to calls for service, making arrests, resolving disputes, taking crime reports, and conducting traffic enforcement, and other crime prevention measures. The patrol officer is the first on the scene to arrive. What they do or fail to do at the scene can greatly influence the outcome of an investigation. The patrol officer, as the person daily in the field, is closest to potential crime and oftentimes has probably developed contacts that can provide information that may assist in solving the crime.
The general purpose of police patrols whether on foot, bicycle, horseback or motor vehicle is to have a visible presence in the community, maintain public order and a sense of security in the community, build relationships with citizens and business owners, and deter crime especially in trouble spots.
The basic activities of these patrols are divided into four different categories.
Preventive Patrol – By maintaining a presence in a community patrol officers prevent crime from occurring. This usually accounts for about 40% of the officer’s time.
Calls For Service – This is when officers are responding to 911 calls for emergency service, or other citizen problems and complaints. This accounts for approx. 25% of the officer’s time
Administrative Duties – This is the general paperwork of the job, and takes up about 20% of the officer’s time
Officer initiated activities – These are incidents in which the patrol officer initiates contact with citizens such as making traffic stops, checking on something suspicious, questioning citizens etc. This usually accounts for about 15% of patrol time.
These percentages are national
To begin studying this topic I’d like to provide a brief definition of a patrol officer. In law enforcement, patrol officers are uniformed police officers assigned to patrol specified geographic areas. They are the officers most commonly encountered by the public. Their duties include responding to calls for service, making arrests, resolving disputes, taking crime reports, and conducting traffic enforcement, and other crime prevention measures. The patrol officer is the first on the scene to arrive. What they do or fail to do at the scene can greatly influence the outcome of an investigation. The patrol officer, as the person daily in the field, is closest to potential crime and oftentimes has probably developed contacts that can provide information that may assist in solving the crime.
The general purpose of police patrols whether on foot, bicycle, horseback or motor vehicle is to have a visible presence in the community, maintain public order and a sense of security in the community, build relationships with citizens and business owners, and deter crime especially in trouble spots.
The basic activities of these patrols are divided into four different categories.
Preventive Patrol – By maintaining a presence in a community patrol officers prevent crime from occurring. This usually accounts for about 40% of the officer’s time.
Calls For Service – This is when officers are responding to 911 calls for emergency service, or other citizen problems and complaints. This accounts for approx. 25% of the officer’s time
Administrative Duties – This is the general paperwork of the job, and takes up about 20% of the officer’s time
Officer initiated activities – These are incidents in which the patrol officer initiates contact with citizens such as making traffic stops, checking on something suspicious, questioning citizens etc. This usually accounts for about 15% of patrol time.
These percentages are national
References: Gaines, Larry K. & Miller, Roger LeRoy, “Criminal Justice In Action The Core” Fourth Edition, Wadsworth 2008 Police Quarterly Vol. 6 No 4, December 2003, Policing Tactics and Perceptions of Police Legitimacy Sage Publications 2003 Wells, L. Edward, & David N. Falcone. Developing a Comprehensive Empirical Model of Policing in the United States, 1996-1999 [Computer file]. ICPSR04338-v1. Normal, IL: Illinois State University [producer], 2005. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2006-09-06. Travis, Lawrence F. III, & Beth A. Sanders. EFFECTS OF COMMUNITY POLICING ON TASKS OF STREET-LEVEL POLICE OFFICERS IN OHIO, 1981 AND 1996 [Computer file]. ICPSR version. Cincinnati, OH: University of Cincinnati [producer], 1997. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 1999. Pate, Antony M., & Sampson O. Annan. COMMUNITY POLICING IN BALTIMORE, 1986-1987 [Computer file]. ICPSR version. Washington, DC: The Police Foundation [producer], 1990. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political Research [distributor], 1998. Brownfeld, Allan C. "A Strong Police Presence Prevents Crime." Opposing Viewpoints: Crime and Criminals. Ed. Tamara L. Roleff. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2000. Opposing Viewpoints Resource Center. Gale. University of MD University College. 20 Apr. 2008 FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin, v64 p4-5 May, 1995, The Kansas City Gun Experiment Retrieved April 20, 2008 http://firstsearch.oclc.org.ezproxy.umuc.edu/WebZ/FTFETCH?sessionid=fsapp4-50172-ffg1ynvl-ypxkux:entitypagenum=10:0:rule=100:fetchtype=fulltext:dbname=WilsonSelectPlus_FT:recno=39:resultset=1:ftformat=HTML:format=BI:isbillable=TRUE:numrecs=1:isdirectarticle=FALSE:entityemailfullrecno=39:entityemailfullresultset=1:entityemailftfrom=WilsonSelectPlus_FT: