Patrol officers make up the majority of police forces and are responsible for deterring crime, enhancing public safety, and responding to calls for service. They are organized into beats and shifts, with patrol supervisors overseeing about 8 officers each. When citizens call 911, dispatch operators process calls and dispatch the appropriate officers. Historical studies of police patrol have provided insights but capturing the full complexity of patrol work remains difficult. Patrol officers spend most of their time traveling between calls rather than directly interacting with the public. Improving technology, specialized response units, and directed patrol strategies have aimed to enhance the effectiveness and efficiency of traditional police patrol.

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

2. The Central Role of Patrol
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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
7-2

3. The Functions of Patrol
To deter crime
To enhance feelings of public
safety
To make officers available for
service
7-3

4. The Organization and Delivery of
Patrol

Factors affecting the delivery
of patrol services
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 Foot patrol
 Number of sworn officers
 Automobile patrol
• Police-population ratio
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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
Types of 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
7-4

5. Styles of Patrol
 Individual 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
7-5

6. Organizational Styles
James Q. Wilson identified three distinct organizational styles.
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The watchman style emphasizes peace-keeping without
aggressive law enforcement and few controls over rankand-file officers.
The legalistic style emphasizes aggressive crime-fighting
an attempts to control officer behavior through a rulebound, “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.
7-6

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.
7-7

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
7-8

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
7-9

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
7-10

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
7-11

12. The Systematic Study of Police
Patrol
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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:
•
•
•
•
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American Bar Foundation Survey (1956-1957)
President’s Crime Commission (1965-1967)
Police Services Study (1977)
Project on Policing Neighborhoods (1996-1997)
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
7-12

13. The Call Service Workload
 The Volume of Calls
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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
7-13

14. Aspects of Patrol Work

Response Time
 Discovery Time
• Cannot be controlled by officers
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Reporting Time
Processing Time
Travel Time
Reasons why citizens delay calling
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Need to verify crime occurred
Regain composure
Call a friend or family member first
Decide whether to involve police
Telephone not immediately available
7-14

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
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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
7-15

16. The Effectiveness of Patrol

Initial Experiments
 Operation 25
 Methodologically
flawed
 Newark Foot Patrol
Experiment
 Crime
 Citizen Attitudes

Kansas City
Preventative Patrol
Experiment
 Controversial
results
 Challenged
traditional
assumptions
about patrol
7-16

17. Improving Traditional Patrol

Differential Response Calls
 Classifying calls according to
seriousness

Telephone Reporting Units
 Handle 10-20% of calls on
some shifts
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311 Nonemergency
Numbers
Non-English 911 Call
Services
Reverse 911
 Allows police to call citizens

Computers and Video
Cameras in Patrol Cars
 Increase accountability

Police Aides or Cadets

Unsworn officers
Street Skills Training for
Patrol Officers

High-risk, low-frequency
events
Directed Patrol and “Hot
Spots”

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Look for specific crimes or
people, patrol certain
areas
Customer Feedback
Beyond Traditional Patrol

Taking more proactive
measures
7-17