Effectiveness of Police Patrol

¶ … police patrol. Police patrol is indeed the backbone of police duties. Citizens see a police presence and feel safer in their neighborhoods, and police can patrol trouble spots to help reduce crime in a specific, high-crime area. However, there is a debate about how effective police patrol really is.

The purpose of police patrol is to make neighborhoods safer and to stop crime from occurring. However, there is really a very small chance that police on patrol will actually encounter a crime in progress. The purpose of patrolling high-crime areas is to reduce the crime rate, but there are many variables that can make certain areas more vulnerable than others can be. A writer notes, "Because age is strongly related to both offending and being victimized, places that attract large numbers of young people concentrate, and thus increase, the contact between offenders and suitable targets" (Danner, 2003, p. 3). With variables such as these present, there is often little a police officer can do to make a difference in the crime rate, because the variables are too difficult to overcome.

However, there have been many studies that help show police patrols can be extremely effective in specific areas, and they can often reduce crime, especially violent crime. In a study conducted in Tampa, Florida, in a specific police patrol area known as the Ybor City Historical District (YCHS), a city area that experienced a relentless amount of violent crime. Kansas City has proven to be a landmark study in police work, and the first police patrol studies there took place in the early 1970s. Author Danner continues, "Although the often cited Kansas City Patrol Study suggested that increases in the concentration of police patrols do not reduce overall crime frequencies, that research and more recent studies have demonstrated some deterrent effects of patrols directed to specific problem areas" (Danner, 2003, p. 15). There was impetus to do another study in another area of Kansas City, but instead the researchers studied other earlier police patrol studies, and most showed that increased patrols had a positive affect on crime-ridden areas. While this study shows that increased police patrols can positively affect certain types of crimes, there are other factors in police patrols that can lead to less positive outcomes. Much depends on the targeted area and the neighborhood, so police patrols must learn to target neighborhoods effectively and look for very specific ways to reduce crime. For example, author Danner notes that increased police patrols had some affect in the YCHD, but not as much as hoped. He states, "Saturating the streets of Ybor with police officers has probably had some deterrent effect on violent crime there, but internal bar security and patron management can inhibit violence before it is 'taken out in the street'" (Danner, 2003, p. 27).

Unlike the above study, which involved a targeted neighborhood and a targeted result, other studies looked at police patrols in a different way, and their results were different, as well. Another writer maintains that for police patrol to be successful and gain the targeted results, patrol officers must be trained in mediation techniques, because much of what they do is based on situations needing mediation. The author writes, "The officer's role is that of setting the stage for mediation, listening to the disputants, helping the disputants frame the issues; keeping the mediation goal directed, and assisting them in fashioning their own resolution (Cooper, 1997, p. 92). Thus, conflict resolution can be an important part of the patrol policing model, and it could help lead to less crime in the streets.

Other studies have not been so positive. Another study in Kansas City showed disappointing results. When the results were compiled, they were surprising. Using surveys, crime data, arrest data, and victim surveys, they found that the people did not overwhelmingly feel safer, and that crime rates for most all crimes, from burglary to vandalism, did not go down in the proactive beats. The study stopped short of saying that patrol policing does not work. The editors continue, "What they do suggest, however, is that routine preventive patrol in marked police cars has little value in preventing crime or making citizens feel safe" (Editors, 2003). This is a surprising conclusion, considering how most criminal justice experts believe patrolling is the "backbone" of police work, and it indicates that patrols alone cannot reduce crime, that "targeted" patrols can help reduce crime, especially if they are targeted narrowly and effectively.