Insights into Patrolling: Balancing Authority and Discretion

1. CHAPTER 5 On Patrol

2. On Patrol • Patrol as Work • Purposes and Nature of Patrol • Deployment should consider the where and when of crime • Many still deploy patrols based upon convenient beat dividers • Major purposes of patrol, according to ABA • To deter crime by maintaining a visible presence

3. On Patrol • To maintain public order • To enable the police department to respond quickly to law violators or other emergencies • To identify and apprehend law violators • To aid individuals and care for those who cannot help themselves • To facilitate the movement of traffic and people • To create a sense of security in the community

4. On Patrol • “JDLR” • “Just doesn’t look right” • Nonemergency calls to 911 • Detroit and Los Angeles staff over 60 percent of patrol units with two officers • Atlanta and Baltimore have no two-officer units • Most agencies assign 77 to 95 percent of their patrols resources to automobiles

5. On Patrol • Patrol Work as a Function of Shift Assignment • Shift assignments • Day shift have the greatest contact with the citizens • Usually, officers with the most seniority work the day shift • Swing shift usually makes more arrests than day shift • Night shift is a different world • The shift is busy at the start and then the officer fights boredom at the end of the shift

6. On Patrol • Influences of One’s Assigned Beat • Three “cops’ rules” are part of the beat culture • Don’t get involved in another officer’s sector • Don’t leave work for the next duty shift • Hold up your end of the work

7. On Patrol • Where Danger Lurks • During 2000, 151 police officers were killed in the line of duty • The annual average in the 1990s was 153 • The annual average in the 1980s was 187 • The annual average in the 1970s was 222

8. On Patrol • An Unappreciated American Icon: The Patrol Vehicle • A Sanctuary and a Place for Vital Gear • A mobile haven • An office • A rolling symbol of authority • Evolution of the Patrol Vehicle

9. On Patrol • Studies of the Patrol Function • Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experiment (1973) • City divided into 15 beats • No preventive patrol • Police only responded to calls for service

10. On Patrol • Increased patrol activity • Usual level of service • No increase in crime in any of the patrol zones • No change in citizens’ fear of crime or their attitudes toward the police • No change in the ability of the police to respond to calls • Patrol methods ere subject to question

11. On Patrol • Team policing • Officers were divided into small teams • Assigned permanently to small geographic areas or neighborhoods • Officers were to be generalists • The concept was abandoned because of strain on resources • Was the beginning of the movement toward COP

12. On Patrol • Directed patrol (1975) • Computer data of crime locations and times to set up deterrent runs • The program did not reduce crime, but rather displaced it • The program quietly died • Split-force program • 1/2 of patrol assigned to basic patrol units • 1/2 were assigned to a structured unit • Deployed in high-crime areas • Police productivity increased 20% • Crime decreased 18% in the first year

13. On Patrol • Foot patrol • Renewed interest in late 1970s • Crime levels were not affected by foot patrol • Did have significant effect on the attitudes of the area residents • Residents felt safer • Officers had higher levels of job satisfaction • Officers felt safer on the job than motor officers

14. On Patrol • Response times • Kansas City (1977) • Study found that response time was unrelated to the probability of making an arrest or locating witnesses • Dispatch nor travel time was strongly associated with citizen satisfaction • The time it takes to report a crime is the major factor determining whether an on-scene arrest takes place and whether witnesses are located • Two-person patrol cars are no more effective than one-person cars in reducing crime or catching criminals • Injuries to police officers are not more likely to occur in one-person cars • Most officers on patrol do not stumble across felony crimes in progress

15. On Patrol • Discretionary Use of Police Authority • Attempts to Define Discretion • If the police see something that does not look right, they must decide whether to intervene in the situation and how to intervene • In a traffic stop, police have 770 different combinations of action that may be taken

16. On Patrol • Criminal law has two sides • Formality • Found in the statutes and opinions of the court • Reality • Found in the practices of the enforcement officers • When formality and reality differ, reality prevails

17. On Patrol • Determinants of Disciplinary Actions • Variables that enter into the officer’s decision • The officer’s attitude • The citizen’s attitude or demeanor • The citizen’s social class, sex, age, and race • Pros, Cons, and Politics of Discretionary Authority • The inverse relationship between the officer’s rank and the amount of discretion that is available • The exercise of discretion is an essential part of police work • There is a myth of full enforcement of the laws • The issue of police discretion is shrouded in controversy

18. On Patrol • Advantages of the use of discretion • It allows the officer to treat different situations in accordance with humanitarian and practical goals • Justice tempered with mercy • Disadvantages of the use of discretion • Partiality • Breeding ground for corruption • Police do not know the consequences of their discretionary decisions

19. On Patrol • Police discretion is part of the American political process • State legislative commands are ambiguous • Legislatures speak with three voices • They enact state statutes that seemingly require full enforcement of the laws • They provide only enough resources for limited enforcement of them • They consent to such limited enforcement

20. On Patrol • A Related Function: Traffic • Policing Today’s Motorized Society • Traffic stops account for about half of the contact Americans have with the police • More than half of the nearly 20 million Americans stopped will be cited • Traffic stops are a major source of friction between the police and the citizens • Crackdowns on speeding have no impact on fatality rates and have little influence on traffic violations or accident rates

21. On Patrol • Traffic Accident Investigation • Formal training in the area of accident investigation is essential • The era of accountability and litigation • The public demands skilled accident investigations

22. On Patrol • In Pursuit of the “Phantom Driver” • Public support for the police in their efforts to apprehend the hit-and-run drivers • Physical evidence and witness statements must be collected • The police may have to use psychology to get a confession from the hit-and-run driver