Case Study: The Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experience

I feel as if the reason that the different levels of motorized patrol failed to have an impact on crime or public perception because when the police are in large areas patrolling, they may not be able to cover as much area as they think and adding more officers or cars may remove an officer or car from an rea that it is actually needed in which may move crime into another area.

Since the 70’s police departments like Spokane Washington, I believe have proved that police visibility or presence in the community along with transparency working hand in hand with the community, have had a positive effect on preventing crime and providing communities with a sense of security (The Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experiment. (n.d.).

Community Policing took a different perspective on crime than August Vollmer. It shows that even though police officers are trained and respond to crimes on time, it doesn’t effect the crime rates. In the past foot-patrol was in place but it quickly failed due to poor management and not enough funds for the program (Bohm & Haley, 2014, Pg. 147). Community Policing was an idea to form a bond between the police and the citizens. If the police paid more attention to the minor problems in

Secondly, Crime will decrease in Newark, NJ by the city assigning more officers to be on patrol instead of doing desk work. If there were more cops on patrol there would not be a lot of crime rate to begin with. Some officers do not get the chance to patrol. If Newark assigns these officers to patrol instead of doing desk work the crime rate would instantly drop like when Newark had its first crime free month since 1966. Newark is a large city that need close attention because of poverty and etc… People cannot even walk down the street without worrying whether or not they will come back alive or dead. Robert Andrews also told the Star Ledger “he had been inundated with calls from residents to patrol Newark’s streets.”?”(Giambusso and Friedman,” Laid off Newark police officers cope with unemployment.”) If somebody does not step up to the plate Newark residents will be in jeopardy again.

The Kansas City Preventative Patrol Experiment was conducted in October 1972 by the Kansas City Police to test the effects of marked police patrol units on the incidence of crime to deter crime and ended in 1973. The experiment lasted over a year and was evaluated by the Police Foundation, established by the Ford Foundation, which also provided funding and technical assistance for the education of police. The Kansas City Preventative Patrol Experiment in policing ranked among the few major social experiments ever to be completed and still used today in American policing. (Kelling, G. L., Pate, T., Dieckman, D., & Brown, C. E., 1974)

I believe preventive patrol is effective because of the deterrence theory. People who plan to commit a crime do not want to get caught. I also think that some people will probably get nervous if a police officer keeps passing by when they plan to commit a crime and might wonder if the police noticed them. However, cop cars pass by in seconds, so I am glad other methods of patrol are being used like foot patrol, bicycle patrol, and mounted patrol. Even if preventive patrols weren’t effective, they still make a presence in the community, which is important. Making a presence could familiarize a neighborhood with a police officer. For example, the first day my son learned how to unlock the front door, he did so when i was showering. He went outside

The Smithville city council assumes that crime persists because the city’s police force has too low a profile, but the memo never cites evidence to support this position. The council could do something as simple yet effective as asking the town librarian to review published studies to see whether a parallel exists between a high police presence and reduced crime rates. It could also hire an independent research

The Philadelphia Foot Patrol experiment was designed in response to a need to calculate which method of problem oriented policing are successful in deterring crime in hot spot during the summer months. We were able to conclude that after 3 months of intensive foot patrol in the treatment area prevented 90 various violent crimes in hot spots, because we have to take in effect the notion of

In 1972- 73 the Kansas City police department came up with a Preventative Patrol experiment to test the effects of routine preventative patrol. (Cordner, 2016). Although it didn't prevent the need for preventative patrol, it did allow for alternative patrol strategies and tactics. The overall findings of the experiment were that officers patrolling in marked police cars do not appear to affect the level of crime in an area. It also did not help the public's feelings of security. (Temple University, unknown). The experiment showed that the police can manipulate and test patrol and deployment strategies and patrol resources without manipulating the public. (Temple University, unknown). The study that was administered by the Kansas City Police

The Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experiment covers an experiment ran by the Kansas City Police Department. The experiment was ran from 1972 to 1973. A major finding in the experiment that relates closely to modern day policing with the topic of marked police cars. In the experiment citizens that resided in Kansas City where the experiment was conduct claim that whether the Kansas City Police Department used marked vehicles or unmarked vehicles there was still no visible presence that the community member notices as if it never even happened. Another finding also found that with the increase in marked and unmarked police vehicles found that there was no decrease in criminal elements such as Commercial & Residential Burglars, Robberies, Vandalising,

If I was the Chief of Police, at Kansas City Police Department at the time of the Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experiment in 1972; my preventive patrol versus random patrol strategies would be based on the idea that visible police presence would target the "hot spots" in an area with unmarked units wearing plain clothes. My officers would provide a general deterrent effect on crime, and that same police presence would reduce the general public's fear of crime. However, my officers will be using unmarked units and wearing plain clothes to form a relationship with the public. It is through directed patrols dosage in specific zones or hot spots, and through the use of strategically defined objectives during patrol activities, that the effectiveness

A second key point was splitting the Kansas City South patrol area into three police beats. Beats are territories and time’s that a police officer patrols. The first beat acted as the proactive patrol which police patrols were altered two to three times the usual level. The second beat was the reactive patrol were no patrol routine was used at all. Lastly, the control beat kept the patrol level the same prior to the start of the experiment.

What I hope to learn from this research is to have a better understanding of how proactive policing impacts communities and what role it has on crime. While initially researching community policing and its effects on violent crime, I found out it is specifically a type of proactive policing. The subject of community policing and its effect on violent crime was too specific a subject to research. The recent police misconduct cases with local communities led me to question how effective proactive policing is and what benefits its practice had on crime. I found there has been very little research done on this subject and the research done is from decades old data collected from larger cities where the majority of violent crime is committed.

Two studies were conducted, one in Kansas City and the other in Newark, on whether or not more police presence was able to reduce crime (Walker). The Kansas City study found that even when more police officers are placed in different beats, there was not effect on the amount of crime that occurred there (Walker). The Newark study found that no matter the level of foot patrol there was no reduction of crime (Walker). Although the Newark study found that more foot patrol did not reduce crime, it did however show why this practice may continue to happen in other cities. It found that more police presence reduced citizen fear of (Walker). The theory of deterrence assumes that visible police patrol

There are multiple approaches to engaging a police force with the community in order to most effectively prevent and respond to crime, and considering the relative strengths and weakness of each of these strategic models will demonstrate how models can impact the operation of daily policing practices and activities. The model under discussion here is called community oriented policing (COP), and focuses on building relationships and rapport between officers and the community in order to more effectively prevent crime. It is augmented by a model called problem solving policing (PSP), and depends upon rank-and-file officers identifying community problem areas through direct observation and analysis. Each model excels at slightly different things, and in practice most police agencies deploy a mix of models. By examining the Miami-Dade Police Department's handbook for school resource officers, it will be possible to view a COP/PSP policy in action in order to better understand how these models practically affect policing.