Police Patrol

\Adam-12\Liquor store 211.wmvCOPS\two cars stopped.wmv

Patrol function

Deter crime through policepresence

Maintain order Enable prompt response to calls for service Arrest violators Traffic safety Foster sense of safety in the community Furnish emergency social services

“Environment of patrol”-- factors thatinfluence crime, calls for service andhow police respond

Demographics– Urban / rural– Population, population density– Rate of crime and violence– Income, unemployment, median age, education...

Agency variables – Resources, funding– Management styles and preferences– Response and allocation policies– Shift and day of week

Officer variables– Individual preferences– Knowledge, skills and abilities (KSA)

Calendar variables – holidays, weather Citizen variables

– Individual differences Politics and interest groups (e.g., MADD)

Discretion

Officers often choose whether tointervene, and to what extent

– Informal: Counsel, warn, refer tosocial agencies , etc.

– Formal: Cite or arrest Officer decisions are affected by many variables:

– Presence of a partner or backup– Applicable laws & constraints on discretion (e.g., spousal abuse)– Seriousness of an offense, harm committed– Presence and attitudes of victim and witnesses

Intimidation a major factor in gang-impacted areas– Workload and resources– Community and political pressures– Department policy (formal); accepted practices (informal)– Presence and attitude of supervisors

How well was this situation handled?

What factors most influenced the outcome?

(no right or wrong answers)

The “environment” of patrol is affected by...

demographics -- agency variables -- precinct and beat variables --individual officer variables -- citizen variables -- etc.

“Routine” police work

Patrol study: 1973 Kansas CityPreventive Patrol Experiment

Does routine patrol deter crime? City divided into 15 beats Created five groups, each with three demographically similar beats For one beat, patrol was left as before; for the second, patrol was increased;

For the third, patrol was removed Compared results within groups of beats and between groups of beats 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

Five groups of three beats each

More patrol

Less patrol

No change

WIT

HIN

BETWEEN - Demographically different

Demographically similar

Four years later:1977 Kansas City patrol study

Response time– Findings: Faster police response does not help

(reducing delay in crime reporting does help) – Issue: Was response time significantly decreased?

One versus two-officer cars– Finding: One-officer patrol cars just as safe– Issues

Are “solo” officers equally proactive? Can they be? Is it really “solo” when multiple cars respond to a hot call?

On-view arrests during routine patrol– Finding: Officers seldom “stumble across” felonies in progress– Issue: officers do stumble across wanted persons, armed gang

members and suspects who may have committed other crimes

Stumbling: Murder of husband and mother of Federal judge

On Feb. 28, 2005 the husband and mother ofFederal judge were found shot to death in theLefkow’s Chicago home

Suspicion was immediately placed on right-wingmilitants against whom Lefkow had ruled on a civillawsuit. 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: OklahomaCity bombing

On the morning of April 19, 1995,Timothy McVeigh parked a rentedtruck full of explosives in front of theFederal Building, got in a car andescaped.

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.

Special ways to deploypatrol officers

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

Foot patrol– Liked by citizens– No observable effect on crime– Increased response time [No free lunch]

More ways

Split force – Wilmington, DE– One-quarter of patrol force redirected to stakeouts– Results

“Productivity” increased (what does that really mean?) Crime reduced

– 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

Directed patrol using crime data– Crime data used to determine how officers should patrol– Results:

Ineffective Lack of officer support

– Compstat: another way to collect data See next slide

Deploying patrolwith Compstat

Computerized pin-map finds “hot spots” Shift resources contemporaneously

with changes in crime trends– Short-term fluctuations can deceive– Need extensive resources

Claimed effects questionable– Reductions all across the City of

New York much more likely an effect of socioeconomic factors

Best suited for quality-of-life issues rather than serious crime

Great pressures on managers to conform

Very vertical: can overlook information from below

LAPD crime maps and stats online

Selective/concentratedenforcement techniques

Selective enforcement / gang suppression– Uniformed officers look for gangsters

in high-crime areas– Use stop-and-frisk to find guns and contraband

Concentrated enforcement– Flood problem areas with cops (“hot spot” policing)– Police presence as a deterrent– Lessen response time to violent incidents– “Broken Windows”

No free lunch– Diverting patrol officers to these techniques means less patrol and

increased response time in non-selected neighborhoods– Citizens may feel harassed in selected areas– Aggressive enforcement can create legal issues

Does ... Youth’s demeanor Severity of disposition?affect

Severity of Disposition

Youth’s demeanor

Cooperative Uncooperative Total

Arrest or citation 6 19 25

Release without charges

39 2 41

Total 45 21 66

“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.” Piliavin and Briar, “Police Encounters With Juveniles,” American Journal of Sociology, 70/2

Study of police decision-making practices

Youth’s demeanor Eval of Threat Severity of dispo?

Alternative Explanation

Severity of Disposition

Youth’s demeanor

Cooperative Uncooperative Total

Arrest or citation 6 19 25

Release without charges

39 2 41

Total 45 21 66