Chapter 7Field Operations

Emily, Amanda, & Rebecca

Field Operations & Stats• Field Operations have two primary functions:– (1) Patrol– (2) Investigation

• Has the greatest deal of diversity problems & has the most influence on the publics perception on police

• Stats on Field OperationsType of Officer % in Patrol Duty % in Investigation

Local Department 65% 16%

Sheriff’s Department 41% 12%

(24%- Jail Duty) (17%- Court related duties)

Field Operations Continued..

• In some small departments, patrolling & investigating are not separate units.

• Generalist: an officer who performs a variety of activities

• Specialist: an officer who performs a particular kind of activity such as investigation, as distinguished from a generalist

The Patrol Function• Police Patrol has been referred to as the

“backbone of policing”• Goals of Patrol– (1) Crime prevention & deterrence– (2) Apprehension of offenders– (3) creation of a sense of community security and

satisfaction – (4) Provision of non-crime related services– (5) Traffic control or community policing– (6) Identifying & solving community problems with

respect to crime and disorder

Patrol Function Continued…

• 3 Functions of Patrol– (1) Law Enforcement: making arrests, issue citations,

conduct investigations, general attempt to deter criminal activity

– (2) Order Maintenance: may or may not involve a violation of the law (usually minor), in which officers tend to use alternatives other than arrest

– (3) Social Service: taking reports and providing information and assistance to public (anything from helping a stranded motorist, or helping a Grandma get home)

Historical Development• Two critical developments of the 1930’s helped

change the nature of patrol officers– (1) Greatly increased the use of patrol cars– (2) Development of the Uniform Crime Report

(UCR)• Two developments along with the influence of

O.W. Wilson’s bureaucratic/paramilitary approach to police management– (1) Increased professionalism– (2) Development of radio & telephone

Terrorism & Patrol• De Guzman (2002) argues that patrol work will

need to be more “target oriented,” and with greater emphasis placed on “event” analysis in addition to crime analysis.– Target Orientation: concept used by officers to asses

likely targets in their district– Event Analysis: suggests that police should be aware of

important celebrations, ideologies, and anniversaries of known activists, terrorist, or groups and attempt to determine whether these events may be connected to possible terrorists acts

Patrol Methods• Two most dominant methods of patrol– (1) Automobile & foot patrol

• Types of Patrol– (1) One/Two Officer Cars– (2) Foot Patrol– (3) Motorcycle Patrol– (4)Motor Scoots/3-Wheeled Vehicles– (5) Bicycles– (6) Horse Patrol– (7) Planes & Helicopters– (8) Boat Patrol

Resource Allocation• Police resources have been allocated equally over

24hr period– Day Shift: 8AM-4PM– Swing Shift: 4PM-Midnight– Graveyard Shift: Midnight-8AM

• Two most important variables for determining allocation are:– Location: assists departments in dividing up a

community into beats (more problems = smaller beat)– Time: helps determine how officers will be grouped into

shifts

Computerized Crime Mapping• Assists officers about where to concentrate

their patrol activities.• Date obtained from department’s Computer-

Aided Dispatch (CAD) and records management systems (which stores and maintain calls for service, record incidents and arrests) are matched with addresses and other geographic information such as beats/districts then maps are computer generated for a geographic area

• In 2000, 15% of State & Local departments used it and 13% of Sheriffs departments use it

Random Patrol• Kansas City Preventive Patrol Exerpiment– PURPOSE: 1 yr experiment to determine the effort

of random patrol– STRATEGY: divide patrol into different levels of

patrol• Reactive Beat: no preventive patrol• Proactive Beat: assigned 2-3x the normal amount of

patrol units• Control Beats: maintained normal levels of patrol units

Random Patrol Cont…• Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experiment Cont..– RESULTS

• 4 patrol conditions appeared to have no affect– (1) crime rates deemed suppressible by patrol (burglary,

auto-theft, larceny involving auto access)– (2) citizens attitudes toward police – (3) feeling of security– (4) rate of crime

– CONCLUSION:• Most departments devote 40-60% of time to preventive

control, so is this a waste of time?• K.C. Police suggest: traditional preventive patrol is ineffective

and the time devoted to it could be used more effectively

Response Time• Results have found that the average citizen

waits too long (6mins) to call the police. They often call a relative first- and then there is virtually no chance to make an arrest at the scene, regardless of quick police respond

• Results show citizen satisfaction with police departments rely less on quick response than on knowing the approximate ETA of officer

• Found that calls can be assigned to different priority levels

Differential Response to Calls• Differential response programs classify calls according

to their degree of seriousness and are responded to by– (1) Immediate response by sworn officer– (2) Delayed response by sworn officer– (3) No direct response put report taken by phone, mail, or

citizen comes to police station• Research on differential police response (DPR)

indicates that alternative strategies (1) significantly lowering costs, (2) increasing effectiveness, (3) didn’t effect the citizens level of satisfaction, and (4) crime didn’t increase