Case Study: The Philadelphia Foot Patrol

I believe if the Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experiment was conducted today different results would be revealed due to the fact that police strategies and tactics have changed over the years in response to changes in society, public pressures, aren research. Police executives must continually reassess their organizational technology and make adjustments to improve the attainment of the goals of protecting life and property and maintaining order. Today, the knowledge base related to what works in policing is much farther along in it development than even a decade ago, making it possible for police executives to strive toward the objective of evidence-based policing (Cordner, 2016). Moreover, evidence-based policing does not replace

Gaines, L. K., & Kappeler, V. E. (2014). Policing in america (8th ed.). (S. Decker-Lucke, Ed.) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States of America: Anderson Publishing. Retrieved January 2017

This study tested the impact of increased foot patrol on crime in Newark between February 1978 and January 1979. The program included several requirements stipulated by its use of Safe and Clean Neighborhoods Program funds. Foot patrol officers were required to remain in uniform and on foot, except when traveling to and from their posts, or when assisting a motor patrol officer in an emergency or arrest situation. All officers were required to be visible on

The increasing concerns of rising crime rates and the national civil rights movement in the 1960s, led to an increased attention for research and policy development (Ray 2104). The country was demanding improved police-community relations; increase educations for officers; diversity in the ranks; and controls on police discrimination. Commnities felt alienated from the police force and demanded a solution (Ray 2014). In response to the growing concerns, research was conducted. Congress allocated monies producing two ciritcal studies: the Kansas City Preventive Patrol Study and the Rand Investigation Experiment. The evidence from these studies indicated police were not only limited in their ability to affect crime levels, but rarely responded

The Philadelphia Foot Patrol Experiment was quite interesting in that it not only placed an emphasis on localized foot patrol over the traditional vehicle patrols that are found throughout Louisville and Southern Indiana. For the experiment, the Philadelphia police department partnered with researchers from local Temple University. The goal was to determine if the violent crime rate (in high-crime areas) could be reduced through establishing a foot patrol around these hotspots. To determine the locations that would be used in the experiment, the team used violent crime data from the prior three years and the locations with the highest “score” out of the index they created would be subjected to the foot patrol experiment. Each foot patrol

Hot spots policing revolves around the idea that crime is focused in small problem locales, and that crime can be more efficiently reduced if police concentrate their efforts on those smaller areas (Papachristos & Hureau, 2012). By stopping crime in smaller areas, it is easy to prevent it from growing in larger parts. Activities like patrolling high crime areas and presence of law enforcement officers in the area are performed will reduced crime (Hot spots policing, 2017, What is the focus of the intervention?). “When authors calculated the overall

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)

“Even when officers do not use force, the knowledge that they have the authority to use it shapes the behavior of both the public and police officers” (Frydl, K. & Skogan, W., 2004). The presence of law enforcement changes the atmosphere of any situation they enter into due to the impact law enforcement has on society. A counter argument against law enforcement’s effect on crime control is the Kansas City Patrol experiment. During the 1970’s, this experiment divided an area in three separate conditions: a proactive, where officers patrolled the area double the normal about of time, reactive where officers entered an area only to respond to a call, and control; normal patrol of an area. The results stated that volume of patrol had no effect on crime or perspectives of policing, however the study did not prove that patrol has no effect because even in the reactive group, officers would enter the area for service calls. (Walker, Chapter 5). Therefore, this limitation may illustrate law enforcement still have an effect abide, although not as strong as we may believe

Over the years, police have been portrayed in the media, television shows, and the local newspaper as crime fighting heroes. This portrayal would make one think a police officer is always out doing a dangerous job, which may require shooting, beating up, or arrested the bad guy. The truth is, most officers will not make a felony arrest in a given year, and there are also many officers who have never fired their weapon. There are various perspectives of the policing functions. I will examine these perspectives from the local, state, and federal organizational levels. I will identify and address possible future changes in laws and the overall

Having officers foot patrolling make residents feel safer and it improves the attitudes they have towards police officers. Bicycle patrolling also make police officers more accessible to the public. This allows police officers to interact more with the public rather than being inside the car and only getting out when they must stop someone or when they are being called to a certain location. This increases trust in the police. When people trust in the police they open up, this will solve more cases and people won’t be afraid to speak out on something that happened in their neighborhood. Body worn cameras will also build community trust and relationships among police officers. Police officers duties is to protect the citizens and it is not to make citizens scared of

The Kansas City Police experiment began in October 1972 and continued through 1973. This experiment was conducted by the Kansas police department and evaluated by the Police Foundation. Patrols were varied within 15 police beats. Routine preventive patrol was eliminated in five beats, labeled “reactive” beats (meaning officers entered these areas only in response to calls from residents). Normal, routine patrol was maintained in five “control” beats. In five “proactive” beats, patrol was intensified by two to three times the norm (Foundation, 2016).

Reactive patrols and proactive patrols are mainstays of American police agencies. Reactive patrols provide the required rapid law enforcement response to citizen requests for assistance and other emergencies. Meanwhile, proactive patrols provide the necessary planning and allocation of police resources to effectively respond to specific, ongoing problems such as "white collar crime" and the "victimless crimes" of drug transactions behind closed doors. Careful examinations of each patrol type and the effects of using exclusively reactive patrols or exclusively proactive patrols show that a balanced approach using both types of patrols gives the best law enforcement response to the needs of the community.

The Kansas City Police Department, under Chief Clarence M. Kelley, had achieved a high degree of technological sophistication, was receptive to experimentation and change, and was peppered with young, progressive and professional officers. Short- and long-range planning had become institutionalized, and constructive debates over methods, procedures and approaches to police work were commonplace. By 1972, this department of approximately 1,300 police officers in a city of just over half a million—part of a metropolitan complex of 1.3 million—was open to new ideas and recommendations, and enjoyed the confidence of the people it served. As part of its continuing internal discussions of policing, the department in October of 1971 established a

This program received much ridicule from law enforcement professionals as it decreased, in their eyes, the versatility of their service to the community. It seemed as that in removing officers from their patrol vehicles, it would not allow them to respond quickly to other calls and better protect their patrolled communities. As they came to find, it actually gave the people in those communities a greater sense of security and pride in their home turf.

Traditional patrol is the act of police officers driving around in their car looking for suspicious activity. Patrol has evolved from officers walking many miles patrolling very little areas to officers riding in car being able to patrol very wide areas. Also, since the automobile has been invented the cost of jails in communities have lessened because the use of a lot of police officers is not necessary where when they were on foot a numerous number of police officers were needed to cover more ground. The Kansas City Experiment challenged these assumptions by conducting an experiment with their officer patrolling in their normal routine. They had one group that never changed so they has the same amount of officers as they would on