Police Patrol Peak, Chp. 5

Patrol function Deter crime through police presence Maintain order Enable prompt response to calls for service Arrest violators Traffic safety Foster sense of safety in the community Furnish emergency social services

Calls for service – influencers Demographic variables – Urban / rural – Population and population density – Crime and violence – Wealth and employment – Other (median age, education levels, etc.) – May vary by area, precinct and beat Calendar variables – Shift – Day of week – Holidays and vacation time – Weather

Police response – Influencers External variables – Crime and violence – Community pressures and politics Agency variables – Resources and funding – Chief and command preferences – Response and allocation policies Precinct and beat variables – Crime type and frequency – Manpower and equipment resources – Supervisor preferences – Current workload Officer variables – Individual preferences – Knowledge, skills and abilities (KSA)

Patrol study: 1973 Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experiment Does routine patrol deter crime? City divided into 15 beats Created five groups, each with three demographically similar beatsdemographically For one beat, patrol was left as before; for the second, patrol was increased; For the third, patrol was removed Compared results within and across groups Conclusions – Crime did not change regardless of amount of patrol – Citizen fear of crime and attitudes about police did not change – Police ability to respond to calls did not change Issues – General v. specific deterrence – Experiment kept secret from citizens and crooks – Officers did not respect boundaries when answering calls – Differences between actual patrol levels was slight

Studies of patrol techniques Team policing – Permanent assignment to geographical areas – Officers worked as generalists – Close ties with community – Results: Expensive - patrol officers tied up on investigations Officer follow-up ineffective in complex or serious crimes Directed patrol – Crime data used to determine how officers should patrol – Results: Ineffective Lack of officer support

Studies of patrol techniques Split force – Wilmington, DE – One-quarter of patrol force redirected to stakeouts – Results Productivity” increase (what does that really mean?) Crime reduction – Effects on patrol response [No free lunch] Prioritization of patrol calls means fewer responses Quality of service issues Decline in free patrol time and self-initiated contacts Foot patrol studies – Liked by citizens, apparently does not affect crime levels – Effects on patrol response [No free lunch]

1977 Kansas City patrol study – findings Response time: – Faster police response does not help – Reducing delay in crime reporting does help One versus two-officer cars – One-officer patrol cars just as safe On-view arrests during routine patrol – Officers seldom “stumble across” felonies in progress Discussion – might these findings be biased because certain factors were not taken into account? 

1977 Kansas City patrol study – issues Faster police response does not help – Was response time significantly changed? One-officer patrol cars just as safe – Do multiple cars and backup officers respond on hot calls? – Are solo officers just as proactive as officer pairs? Officers seldom “stumble across” felonies in progress – Narrow view of effects of patrol – Officers frequently “stumble” across wanted persons, armed gang members and persons responsible for other crimes 

Stumbling: Murder of husband and mother of Federal judge On Feb. 28, 2005 the husband and mother of Federal judge were found shot to death in the Lefkow’s Chicago home Suspicion was immediately placed on right-wing militants against whom Lefkow had ruled on a civil lawsuit. A huge investigation got under way. Three days later a West Allis, Wisconsin patrol officer pulled over Bart Ross for suspicious activities. Ross, an unemployed electrician and cancer victim, shot himself as the officer walked up. The officer almost got hit. Inside the car was a note in which Ross confessed to the shootings. He was angry at the judge for dismissing his suit against his doctors. Ross’s DNA was matched against DNA left on a cigarette butt left behind in the Lefkow residence.

Stumbling: Oklahoma City bombing On the morning of April 19, 1995, Timothy McVeigh parked a rented truck full of explosives in front of the Federal Building, got in a car and escaped. At 9:02am a massive explosion occurred, killing 168 persons. Two hours later McVeigh was stopped by a Oklahoma Highway Patrol officer because his vehicle lacked a license plate. The officer noticed a bulge in McVeigh’s jacket and arrested him for carrying a loaded.45. Suspicions about McVey and his resemblance to sketches of the person who rented the truck led police to call the Feds.

Patrol deployment: Compstat Computerized pin-map Shift resources contemporaneously with changes in crime trends – Short-term fluctuations can deceive – Unrealistic to implement without extensive resources – Zero-sum game: something has to give Claimed effects highly questionable – Reductions all across the City of New York much more likely an effect of external social and economic factors Best suited for quality-of-life issues rather than serious crime Great pressures on managers to conform Excessively vertical: can easily overlook information from below

Discretion Officers often can choose to intervene: – Whether (yes/no) – How (warn  cite  arrest) – To what extent (resolve situation or investigate more thoroughly) Officer decisions are affected by many variables: – Laws limiting discretion (e.g., spousal abuse) – Seriousness of an offense; harm committed – Presence of a victim – Availability of information and witnesses – Personal (attitudes, knowledge, skills, abilities) – Workload and resources – Community and political pressures – Department policy and procedures (formal) – Accepted practices (informal) – Supervision – Citizen or suspect attitudes

Youth’s demeanor Severity of dispo? Severity of Disposition Youth’s demeanor CooperativeUncooperativeTotal Arrest or citation61925 Release without charges Total “The observations made in this study serve to underscore the fact that the official delinquent... is a delinquent because someone in authority has defined him as one, often on the basis of the public face he has presented to officials rather than on the kind of offense he has committed.” (table adopted from Piliavin and Briar, “Police Encounters With Juveniles,” American Journal of Sociology, 70/2)

Youth’s demeanor Eval of Threat Severity of dispo? Alternative Explanation Severity of Disposition Youth’s demeanor CooperativeUncooperativeTotal Arrest or citation61925 Release without charges Total452166