Lecture 4 - Patrol Work

Question 1

Patrol Strategies

Answer 1

• Foot Patrol
• Motorized Patrol (vehicles)
• Biking Patrol (can access places cars cannot)
• Air Patrol (helicopter; aerial view)
• Marine Patrol (boats)
• Mountain Patrol (Horses)
• ATV Patrol (beaches)

Question 2

Theoretical Frameworks: Routine Activities Theory
(TEST Q)

Answer 2

When 3 Elements Converge in space and time the crime is more likely to occur:

1. Motivated Offender - Person who is willing to commit a crime
2. Suitable Target - Anything or any person that crime can be committed against
3. Absence of Capable Guardian - No Person or nothing that can prevent a crime from occurring (security guard, house alarm, etc.)

How Does This Theory Apply To Policing?

• Police Officers act as Capable Guardians, and therefore eliminate 1 of 3 elements

Question 3

Theoretical Frameworks: Deterrence Theory (TEST Q)

Answer 3

People are rational minded and do not commit crime because cost of crime outweighs the benefit
- If we speed, we’ll get caught and punished (ticket outweighs benefit of getting to destination faster)

Theory relates to policing as police officers are the ones that deter people from committing crime

Question 4

Patrol Strategies

Answer 4

Do Police Prevent Crime? NO
* Would mean police stopped crime occuring everytime and everywhere

Do Police Displace Crime? YES
* Means stopping it temporarily or moving the time and location of crime

Question 5

2 Ways to Displace Crime?

Answer 5

Spatial Displacement: Move it elsewhere
Temporal Displacement: Move it around the clock

Question 6

Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experiment (1972)

Answer 6

Kansas City PD conducted an experiment to analyze the effectiveness of routine preventive patrol

Divided City Into 3 Groups:

1. Reactive Group - No routine preventive patrol - officers only respond to calls of service
2. Proactive Group - 2-3x more preventive patrol than regular
3. Control Group - Regular amount of patrol

Results: Did not significantly impact crime levels.
* Shows routine preventive patrol may not be valuable means to impact crime

Flaws:
* Implementation
* Volume

Spacial Unit Concern:
- Even if there was different levels of policing, public would not see changes because city is so big

Question 7

4 Forms of Data & What They Aim To Measure

Answer 7

Survey Data - Collected through surveys or interviews
Aim: To measure public opinions on crime, attitudes towards police

Crime Data - Collected by police, represents reported criminal accidents
Aim: Measures frequency, type, location of reported crime

Arrest Data - Records of individuals that were arrested
Aim: To see who is being arrested, what offences, demographic of arrestees

Observation Data - Collected through direct observation of individuals or groups in natural settings
Aim: Measures Behaviour, Interactions, Situational Factors that cannot be captured through other data sources

Question 8

Minneapolis Hot Spots Policing Experiment (Focused Patrol) (NEED TO KNOW AUTHOR (GROFF et. al) & NAME OF STUDY)

Answer 8

Identified 110 hotspots of crime and divided them by two.
* Intensified but intermittent patrol (3 hours per day at hotspots

Results:
* 2x Observed Patrol Presense
* Total crimes reduced by 6-13%
* Observed disorder reduced by 50%

Suggests that increases in police presence can reduce crime and disorder in high crime locations (hotspots).

Problems:
* Fidelity (Officer Boredom)
* Displacement
* Study did not account for police actions at locations (officers engaged with business owners vs. officers sleeping in car) (Groff et. al, 2015)

Question 9

Philadelphia Policing Tactics Experiment (NEED TO KNOW AUTHOR (Lawrence W. Sherman) & NAME OF STUDY)

Answer 9

Randomized controlled field experiment to test 3 policing tactics. (Groff et. al).

• Foot Patrol (Increase Visibility and Access)
• Problem-Oriented Policing (Identifying and Solving Problems)
  S.A.R.A Model (TEST Q):
  S - Scanning (What is the problem)
  A - Analyzing (What is Contributing)
  R - Response (How can we improve problem)
  A - Assessment (Did Response Work)

Ex. Kids Loitering Outside 7/11

• Offender-Focused Policing
• Increasing certainty of arrest for a small group of highly active offenders (police can deter others by doing this)

Results:
* Foot Patrol and Problem-Oriented Policing sites experienced no reductions in violent crime
* Offender-Focused Policing experienced 42% reduction in all violent crime