Visit Uncommitted Patrol

I spent my third and fourth session of my practicum with Constable Dwayne Harrison and Constable Paul Davis. Both members of the Lethbridge Regional Police Service (LRPS) are in the patrol unit; responding to calls and investigating. Patrol work is broad, responding to calls that mostly consist of theft, mischief, and domestic. It defines the police as a public service and making the public happy to have someone to solve their problems.

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

Scanning- instead of relying on broad, law related incidents, the officer are encouraged to look at the crime possibly being related to another crime in the area. Thinking outside to box can effectively connect links to crimes that were overlooked in the past.

When we have a large pattern of thefts we normally inform patrol of the thefts and the patterns that surround the thefts via bulletins that are passed throughout the police department. During that time it will be discussed in briefing and after briefing ends the officers will conduct patrol checks in the areas that are focused in the bulletin at a set day of week, time of day and/or location to suppress those activities and/or capture a suspect(s) that are committing said crime(s). (I. Singh, personal communication, April 12, 2017)

First, problem-oriented policing enables police agencies to be more effective. Currently, police agencies commit most of their time to responding to calls for service. Problem-oriented policing offers a more effective strategy by addressing the underlying conditions that prompt calls for service. Often, many of the calls for service are related and, if grouped together, disclose a pattern of activity or

The Broken Windows theory predicts that police can most effectively fight crime by focusing their efforts on targeting disorder, minor crimes and nuisance behaviors. The theory has had a positive impact, but has also raised some challenges. The police can play a key role in disrupting this process. If they focus in on disorder and less serious crime in neighborhoods that have not yet been overtaken by serious crime, they can help reduce fear and resident withdrawal.

In 1994, the New York City Police Department adopted a law enforcement crime fighting strategy known as COMPSTAT (COMPuter STATistics). COMPSTAT uses Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to map the locations of where crimes occur, identify “ hotspots”, and map problem areas. COMPSTAT has amassed a wealth of historical crime data. Mathematicians have designed and developed algorithms that run against the historical data to predict future crimes for police departments. This is known as predictive policing. Predictive policing has led to a drop in burglaries, automobile thefts, and other crimes in some cities.

The “broken windows” model of policing was created as an experimental way of policing areas of high crime. The main focus of the “broken windows” model of policing was

Broken windows (ie: foot patrol) policing is different from traditional policing in several ways, the biggest of which is the way that police integrates/communicates with the public. This style of policing is much more intimate, and allows the police to

The Crime Control Model wants to defend society from unlawful people, and to do that, police have to step in. There are four steps to the

On October 1, 1972, the Kansas City Police Department started and experiment, which is known as The Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experiment, in an attempt to quantify the effectiveness of patrol practices on five categories of crime considered being preventable or deterrable through traditional patrol practices in three areas of the community. The five areas were; burglary, auto theft, larceny—theft of auto accessories, robbery and vandalism; along with five other crime categories (including rape, assault, and other larcenies were included in the experiment. Additionally, the experiment attempted to discern if the changes in tactics had an impact on the citizen’s opinion of the police and overall feelings of safety, satisfaction of response

Each police department has their differences’ in how they are run but they all fall under three different approaches to stop crime. These approaches are called proactive, reactive, and coactive according to the textbook called Police Field Operations: Theory Meets Practice. The first tactic is called proactive. According to the textbook proactive policing is “when police work with the community to prevent crime” (Birzer & Roberson, 2014).

and so forth, to identify crime patterns, clusters, suspects, and hot spots. Strategies are then

They also, of course, respond to dispatch calls of crimes in progress. Crime prevention is achieved through mere police presence. Negative interaction between the community and police is generally the norm. In communities policing, on the other hand, police officers are typically assigned to specific geographic areas in their jurisdiction and establish ties with the various community groups. These groups may include ministerial (church) associations, neighborhood associations, youth groups, etc. The idea is that when police are involved with the community they are not viewed as outsiders who are there simply to enforce the law. Crime prevention is achieved through positive interaction with police and the community. The goals of community policing are to reduce crime and disorder, promote citizens’ quality of life in communities, reduce fear of crime, and improve police–citizen relations. These goals are achieved through three essential efforts: community engagement, problem solving, and organizational transformation. In other words, the police are the public and the public are the police.

Traditional policing models had very little input from the community they were supposed to serve; the shift of the officer tended to be quite repetitive in nature. Traditional policing was reporting to work, loading up in the patrol car, driving around for hours awaiting a call for service needed and then filing a report or arresting an alleged criminal. Typically just waiting for a call that a crime had possibly occurred is wholly reactive to crime control. That is a gritty summation of traditional policing which was the norm for police departments for many decades. Community policing is considered more proactive than traditional policing; and at its’ core, community policing should be an interactive collaboration of all