1. Chapter Seven Patrol: The Backbone of Policing
Police in America
Chapter Seven
Patrol: The Backbone of Policing
© 2013 McGraw-Hill Companies. All Rights Reserved.
McGraw-Hill

2. The Central Role of Patrol
Majority of police officers assigned to patrol
Gatekeepers of the CJ System and therefore most important decision makers
Experience on patrol formative part of police officer’s career
Least desirable assignment

3. The Functions of Patrol
To deter crime
To enhance feelings of public safety
To make officers available for service

4. The Organization and Delivery of Patrol
Types of Patrol:
Foot patrol
Automobile patrol
One officer versus two officer cars
Staffing Patrol Beats
- On any given night, no officer is available for many patrol beats
- Police patrol is very expensive
Factors affecting the delivery of patrol services
Number of sworn officers
Police-population ratio
Assignment to Patrol
Distribution of Patrol Officers
One versus two officer cars
Work styles of officers
“Hot Spots”
An area that receives a disproportionate number of calls for police service/ has a high crime rate

5. Styles of Patrol Individual Styles Supervisor Styles
Officer-initiated activity
Includes stopping, questioning, frisking suspicious citizens, stopping vehicles, writing traffic tickets, etc.
Amount varies between departments
Supervisor Styles
Also affect an officer’s level of activity

6. Organizational Styles
James Q. Wilson identified three distinct organizational styles.
The watchman style emphasizes peace-keeping without aggressive law enforcement and few controls over rank-and-file officers.
The legalistic style emphasizes aggressive crime-fighting an attempts to control officer behavior through a rule-bound, “by the book” administrative approach.
The service style emphasizes responsiveness to community expectations and is generally found in suburban police departments where there is relatively little crime.

7. Patrol Supervision
The Role of Sergeant: Patrol supervision is usually accomplished by the sergeant on duty.
The principle of span of control holds that a supervisor can effectively manage only a limited number of people.
The recommended span of control is one sergeant for about every eight officers.

8. The Communications Center
The Nerve Center of Policing
911 Communications center
Citizen-dominated
Reactive
Incident-based
911 Systems
Processing Calls for Service
Operator-Citizen Interactions

9. 911 Systems Introduced by AT&T Company in 1968
911 systems contributed to increase in calls for service
To handle this increase, departments assign priorities to incoming calls based on seriousness of problem
Police able to more efficiently manage delayed responses to non-emergency calls

10. Processing Calls for Service
Communication center operators
Obtain information from caller and makes decision about appropriate response
Exercise tremendous discretion
Only ½ of all calls to 911 result in a dispatch
Operators ask questions of callers
Operators assess situation
Operators decide how many and which officers to dispatch
Patrol officers responding to calls experience great uncertainty

11. Operator-Citizen Interactions
Need to provide officers with as much accurate information as possible
Interactions lengthy, involving many questions
Some questions are a threat to caller’s trustworthiness
Others are a threat to caller’s personal character/judgment

12. The Systematic Study of Police Patrol
Patrol is point of most police-citizen interactions
Studying patrol is difficult and expensive due to decentralized nature of the job
Studies of police patrol include:
American Bar Foundation Survey ( )
President’s Crime Commission ( )
Police Services Study (1977)
Project on Policing Neighborhoods ( )
Standards for Systematic Social Observation
Designed to provide accurate, representative picture
Trained observers follow officer everywhere the officer goes
Take field notes which officer can then read

13. The Call Service Workload
The Volume of Calls
Depends on the area
Minneapolis: 550 per year versus St. Paul: 221 per year
Types of Calls
Order maintenance calls
Service calls
However, many situations are ambiguous

14. Aspects of Patrol Work Response Time
Discovery Time
Cannot be controlled by officers
Reporting Time
Processing Time
Travel Time
Reasons why citizens delay calling
Need to verify crime occurred
Regain composure
Call a friend or family member first
Decide whether to involve police
Telephone not immediately available

15. Aspects of Patrol Work Continued
Officer use of patrol time
Project on Policing Neighborhoods (POPN) studies routine police work
Found that regular patrol officers spend only 20 percent of shift interacting with citizens
Rest of time spent on general patrol and traveling
Evading duty
Delay in reporting the completion of a call
High-speed pursuits
A situation where a police officer attempts to stop a vehicle and the suspect knowingly flees at a high rate of speed
Highly dangerous situation
Decision to engage in pursuit based on judgment of officer

16. The Effectiveness of Patrol
Initial Experiments
Operation 25
Methodologically flawed
Kansas City Preventative Patrol Experiment
Controversial results
Challenged traditional assumptions about patrol
Newark Foot Patrol Experiment
Crime
Citizen Attitudes

17. Improving Traditional Patrol
Police Aides or Cadets
Unsworn officers
Street Skills Training for Patrol Officers
High-risk, low-frequency events
Directed Patrol and “Hot Spots”
Look for specific crimes or people, patrol certain areas
Customer Feedback
Beyond Traditional Patrol
Taking more proactive measures
Differential Response Calls
Classifying calls according to seriousness
Telephone Reporting Units
Handle 10-20% of calls on some shifts
311 Nonemergency Numbers
Non-English 911 Call Services
Reverse 911
Allows police to call citizens
Computers and Video Cameras in Patrol Cars
Increase accountability