Patrol is the central feature of police operations and the backbone of policing. The majority of police are patrol officers who deliver services to the public and are the visible symbols of law enforcement. Patrol officers are the most important decision makers and gatekeepers to the criminal justice system. Their assignments are usually based on seniority and patrol is often considered the least desirable assignment. Community policing aims to give patrol officers more authority as problem solvers. The organization and delivery of patrol depends on factors like the number of officers, their distribution by time and area, and the type of patrol used. Landmark experiments on patrol in Kansas City and Newark found that changes to patrol levels did not significantly impact crime rates or public attitudes.

1. Chapter 7 Patrol: The
Backbone of Policing
The Police In America: An Introduction, 9th edition By Samuel
Walker
Kylie-Jean Fahan
Norwalk Community College
Introduction To Law Enforcement

2. Patrol is the
backbone of
policing, the
central feature of
police operations

3. The Central Role of Patrol
The cop on the beat is a symbol of American Policing and the center of police
activity
- Majority of police are patrol officers, delivering the bulk of police
services to the public
- The marked patrol car and he uniformed patrol officer are the visible
symbols of the police
- Patrol officers are the most important decision makers in policing and
the gatekeepers of the entire criminal justice system
- Experience on patrol is a formative part of a police officer’s career
( Assignments are usually based on seniority )
- It is considered the least desirable assignment

4. The Central Role of Patrol
Continued…
Community policing seeks to correct
this long-standing problem by giving
patrol officers more decision-making
authority as problem solvers who
respond to neighborhood problems.

5. The Creator Of Modern Police
ROBERT PEEL

6. Organization and Delivery Of
Patrol
Factors affecting the delivery of patrol:
● The number of sworn officers
● Percentage of officers assigned to patrol
● Distribution of officers by time of day and area
● The type of patrol used
● One officer vs. two officer patrols
● Work styles of officers

7. Standard
Workload
Formula
The standard workload formula, first developed
by O. W. Wilson in 1941, is based on Citizen calls
for service and reported crimes, in each area of
the city

8. Number Of Sworn Officers
● The traditional measure of the level of police protection in
a community is the police-population ratio
● Cities with more police per population do not necessarily
have lower crime rates
● The reverse is often true: cities with high crime rates often
have more police officers, as high crime rates produce
public demand for more police

9. Distribution Of Patrol Officers
● Crime is more prevalent in poor neighborhoods, and low-
income people are the heaviest users of police services
for order maintenance and general assistance
● Low-income people are also the heaviest users of police
services for non crime events: medical emergencies and
other types of situations requiring assistance
● because a disproportionate number of racial and ethnic
minorities live in low-income neighborhoods, more police
are generally assigned to minority neighborhoods

10. The Distribution of Patrol Officers
- The most serious crimes occur at
night along with disturbances
- Data indicates that assignment of
police officers is related to the
workload
- Some use a 4th patrol shift, late
afternoon- early morning like 6pm to
2am
MIDNIGHTS DAYS EVENINGS
OFFICERS
CALLS FOR SERVICE

11. Assignment
Of Patrol
Officers● A PERF report concludes that frequent change in shift “is
deleterious to the physical and psychological health of the
individual and to the well being of the organization
● Problems include loss of sleep, cardiovascular and other
health problems, on-the-job accidents, disrupted family
lives, and low morale
● The report recommends steady shift assignments, based
primarily on seniority, but with some managerial discretion
in assignment based on performance and workload needs

12. James Q. Wilson points out that police
department are unique in that discretion
increases as one moves down the
organizational hierarchy

13. Functions Of Patrol
1. Deter crime
2. Enhance feelings of
public safety
3. Make officers available
for service

14. Types Of
Patrol
● Automobile (84%)
● Foot (4%)
● Bicycle (5%)
● Motorcycle (5%)
● Segway
● Marine

15. STYLES OF PATROL
Individual Style :
Officer-initiated activity
includes:
● Stopping, questioning, and
frisking suspicious citizens
● Making informal contacts
with law abiding citizens
● Stopping vehicles for
possible violations
● Writing traffic tickets
● Checking suspicious events
● Making arrests

16. Organizational
Styles of Patrol
● Watchmen Style: emphasizes
peacekeeping, w/o aggressive law
enforcement & w/ few controls
over rank-and-file officers
● Legalistic Style: emphasizes
aggressive crime fighting &
attempts to control officer
behavior through a rule-bound, by
the book
● Service Style: emphasizes
responsiveness to community
expectations & is generally found
in suburban PD's were there is
little crime
JAMES Q. WILSON’S THREE
DISTINCT ORGANIZATIONAL
STYLES :

17. PATROL
SUPERVISION
THE ROLE OF THE SERGEANT :
● The level of an officer’s activity can
also be shaped by his or her
supervisor
● The style (span of control) of
supervision affects the amount of
work performed by patrol officers
● In policing, the general standard is a
span of control of one sergeant to
eight patrol officers
● An improper span of control can
have a tremendous impact on the
quality of police work
● The principle of span of control is a
supervisor can effectively manage
only a limited number of people

18. 911 Communications Center
THE NERVE CENTER OF THE MODERN POLICE DEPARTMENT
Operators
Dispatchers and patrol
officers are “ info brokers”
who receive citizen calls and
translate them into official
bureaucratic responses
Traditional
Supervisor
Innovative
Supervisor
Expect aggressive
enforcement from
subordinates rather than
engagement in community-
oriented activities or
policing of minor disorders
Characterized by tendency
to form relationships, a low
level of task orientation, and
more positive views of
subordinates*
Active
supervisor
Embrace a philosophy of
leading by example

19. The Communications Center
Contemporary 911-driven police work is:
1) Citizen driven
2) Reactive
3) Incident-based
- The 911 emergency was introduced by the American Telephone
and Telegraph (AT&T) Company in 1968 in Haleyville, Alabama
- Critics call this system “dial a cop” and argue that the 911 system
runs the police department, preventing any rational planning and
proactive police response to problems
- Police Operators exercise tremendous discretion, just as police
officers. The most critical decision is whether the situation is an
emergency and requires an expedited patrol response

20. TYPES OF CALLS
● Only 20 to 30 percent of all calls for service involve criminal law
enforcement
● The vast majority of crime related calls involve property crimes
● Most police work involves order maintenance, or conflict management,
and service
● Most of the order maintenance calls involve family problems that occur
in private homes
● Many situations are ambiguous calls and require the exercise of
discretion by the officers. (civil or private matters)
● Calls for service do not come from a representative sample of the
community. Low income people are very heavy users of police services.

21. ● Response time has little effect on clearance rates.
● The total amount of time between the commission of a
crime and the moment a police officer arrives on the
scene includes separate parts:
1) Discovery time: interval between the commission of the
crime and its discovery.
2) Reporting time: interval between discovery and when
the citizen calls police.
3) Processing time: interval between the call and the
dispatch of a patrol car.
4) Travel time: length of time it takes patrol officers to
reach the scene.

22. Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experiment (1972-
1973) was a landmark event in American policing.
● It was the first experiment testing the effectiveness
of patrol that met minimum standards of scientific.
● Beats assigned had one of three levels of patrol:
1) reactive beats received no preventive
patrol/entered only in response to calls
2) proactive beats received two to three times the
normal level of patrol
3) control beats were assigned the normal level of
patrol (one car per beat).

23. Findings and Implications of the Kansas City
Experiment
● Variations in the level of patrol had no significant
impact on crime.
● Variations in the level of patrol had no significant
impact on citizen feelings of safety.
● There were no significant changes in behavior or
lifestyle because of perceived changes in police
protection.
● Variations in the level of patrol did not affect
attitudes toward the police.

24. The Newark
Foot Patrol
Experiment
● The NFPE found that additional foot
patrol did not reduce serious crime
● Different levels of foot patrol did
have a significant effect on citizen
attitudes
● More positive attitudes towards the
police, including other police
activities unrelated to foot patrol
● Foot patrol officers reported a more
positive attitude about citizens
● The experiments only tested the
level of patrol not what patrol
officers did while on duty

25. ● Police Aides or Cadets are an alternative method of handling
low priority calls to use non sworn personnel
● Directed Patrol of “Hot Spots” involve instruction to look for
specific persons or types of crimes, or to patrol certain areas
intensively
● Customer Feedback is to survey people that have called the
police to assess their satisfaction with the services they
received
● Street Skills Training for Patrol Officers is focused on a “high
risk, low frequency” events such high stress driving and on
shooting tactics

26. Other Key
Terms Of
Patrol
HOT SPOT
● An area that
receives a
disproportionate
number of calls for
police service
and/or has a very
high crime rate
● Focusing police
activities on hot
spots is one of the
most important
innovations in
policing,
particularly in
community
policing and
problem-oriented
policing programs
FOOT PATROL
A difficult trade-off
between efficiency and
community relations
DIRECTED
PATROL
might involve instruction
to look for specific
persons or types of
crime, or to patrol certain
areas intensively

27. BEYOND TRADITIONAL PATROL
Advocates argue that Community Policing and
Problem Oriented Policing are the new future of
policing. That 911 driven policing is reactive and
limited to isolated incidents