Directed Patrol, Hot Spots, and EnforcementChapter 7 Field Operations

Directed Patrol and Hot Spots

Directing what officers do rather than allowing uncommitted random patrol time became increasingly popular after the Kansas City experiment.

The development of computerized crime analysis and computerized mapping allows the police to identify more precise patterns of crime and disorder.

This allows the patrols to be directed to primary crime areas at primary crime times. This method is known as directed patrol which is more proactive.

Proactivity produces more information, heightens citizen awareness of police, creates an impression of greater police watchfulness, and requires police to be more alert and active.

Hot Spots Hot spots is the location that have greater amount of

crime or disorder than other areas. Targeting hot spots for crime was developed out of

research analyzing 911 calls in Minneapolis. It was discovered that 5% of the addresses in the city accounted

for 64% of all 911 calls. Many strategies to target hot spots followed the research

of the Minneapolis 911 calls. The Minneapolis Hot Spots Patrol Experiment Beat Health Program of Oakland California Jersey City, New Jersey Study

Strategies to target hot spots

The Minneapolis Hot Spots Patrol Experiment was designed to test the crime prevention effects of extra patrol officers at ho spots for crime during hot times for over a one-year period.

Beat Health Program of Oakland California was a multi-strategy approach to drug control and disorder problems by focusing on the physical decay conditions of specific hot spot locations.

Jersey City, New Jersey Study evaluated the impact of using a problem oriented approach in violent crime areas.

Proactive Arrest and Crackdowns

Proactive Arrests are initiated by the police and focus on a narrow set of high-risk targets.

One of the most widespread developments in the use of proactive arrests in the mid-1980s was the use of police crackdowns. Crackdowns is an intensive short-term increase in

officer presence and arrests for specific types of offenses, or all offenses in specific areas.

Examples: Drunk driving, public drug markets street walking prostitutes, domestic violence, illegal parking

Proactive Arrest and Crackdowns...

Most of the controversy centers on the effectiveness of the crackdown. The question is are they worth the increased cost and public inconvenience. Operation Safe Streets was a program that stationed officers at

214 highest drug locations in the city for 24 hours, 7 days a week.

The results found significant impacts on both violent and drug crimes; however due to the increased cost for additional patrol coverage (up to one-half million dollars a week in overtime).

Program tactics had to be shifted to a single officer patrolling multiple high crime areas.

Crackdowns are effective, but due to high cost they are not sustainable.

Guns and Gang Violence

Several proactive arrest strategies have been applied to the impact of increased police presence and activity on reducing guns and gang violence. Kansas City Gun Experiment Pittsburgh's Firearm Suppression Patrol (FSP)

Strategy Project Exile The Boston Gun Project

Kansas City Gun Experiment indicated that increased seizures of illegal guns in a high –crime precinct can reduce violent gun crimes.

Project Exile program involves sentence enhancements through the use of federal prosecutions, which generally provide longer sentences than those in state courts. Ex. An illegal gun will get you five years in federal prison.

Pittsburgh's Firearm Suppression Patrol (FSP) Strategy was focused on specific target areas where officers were relieved from responding to calls for service to focus on proactively seizing guns from citizens.

The Boston Gun Project a.k.a Operation cease fire was a team approach involving local and federal police and other justice system agencies, as well as private and community organizations to deter gang related violence.

Zero-Tolerance and Quality-of-Life Policing Zero-tolerance policing is a strategy of proactive arrests

based on the broken- windows theory of crime causation. This theory suggest that if police aggressively pursue minor quality of life crimes the improvement in the quality of life in an area will indirectly lead to lower rate of serious crime.

Quality-of-life policing is a strategy which targets the reduction of physical and social disorders so that the community members will work together to promote neighborhood safety, and along with reduce crime.

Juvenile Curfews

Juveniles contribute significantly to the overall crime rate. According to Bureau of Justice Statistics (2002)

juveniles account for about 28% of all index crime arrests and 32% of all property crime arrests.

The use of juvenile curfew laws has increased dramatically over the past several decades as a strategy to battle delinquency and serious crime.

Juvenile Curfews cont…

Because curfews are becoming more prevalent it is important to take a look at how effective they are at controlling juvenile crime and delinquency. Do you think juvenile curfews are effective in reducing crime and

delinquency? Juveniles often have a negative perception of their

contacts with the police, that it is likely that; Unless curfew laws are both effective and implemented with care, they are likely to alienate juvenile- police interactions. Do you know the Michigan State Juvenile Curfew Law?

Reactive Arrest and Domestic Violence

Chapter 7 Field Operations

Reactive Arrest and Domestic Violence

Reactive arrest are made in response to citizen complaints. They are random and are generally for minor offenses. Domestic violence

The Minneapolis Domestic Violence Experiment was the first study on the use of arrest in misdemeanor domestic violence that compared arrest responses to non-arrest responses. The results indicated that suspects who were arrested were

significantly less likely to become violent over the next six months.

Reactive Arrest and Domestic Violence

A more recent study was developed based on NCVS data for the years of 1992 to 2002, including over 2,500 respondents who were victimized by their spouses or partners. The study focused on two main variables (arrest and reporting)

The results indicated that offenders are not likely to re-offend as long as the incident was reported.

When incidents were not reported the likelihood of re-offending increased by 89%.

Reactive Arrest and Domestic Violence

Some reasons why reporting partner violence may be such a strong deterrent, even if they are not arrested A visit from the police may change the offenders attitudes toward

their behavior The offenders may redefine their behavior as a criminal act The visit may change their perception of the costs of further

violence offender may be deterred by the stigma associated with a

police visit.