Question

There are a number of methods to determining what would be an appropriate number of police officers assigned to any geographic area. Three of the analytical methods available would include; the population residing in the geographic area, the demographics of the area and the attitudes of the majority of that population.

"Unlike the situation with other public service agencies, such as sanitation or transportation, delivery benchmarks are not easily identified for emergency and public safety services." (Hoover 1996-page 15)

When attempting to discern how many police officers are too many (or not enough) the first item to peruse should probably be the number of citizens in a particular area. This can be used as a general benchmark for service, since the number of calls for assistance can be directly extrapolated from the number of people there are in that area. The second item to look at would be the demographics of that area, not just the numbers, but the types of people, the economies of the area, the crime rate of the area, the age of the population in the area and the level of education. All these factors, and more, play a role in the decision concerning how many police officers can effectively control a certain locale. Certainly areas that have higher crime rates will need more officers than those that have lower rates. It would not be an effective move to place 10 police officers in a locale with a low level of crime while placing five officers in a high crime rate area.

Another factor to consider would be the attitudes of the people living there. If the people, as a general rule, are leery or suspicious of the police, it would...

News and World Report "many people choose service professions in fields like medicine, education, or counseling" (Nemko 2007) to serve in and included in public service are such careers as police and fire fighters. It would seem to make a lot of sense to place these service minded individuals in areas where they could best serve. All these factors and more make deciding who and how to police a community much more complicated than it would seem, with various factors needing to be weighed, discussed and analyzed. Certainly it would seem most productive if all affected parties had an equal say in the matter.
Works Cited

Hoover, L.T., Dowling, J.L., Bouley Jr., E.E., (1996) the Erosion of Police and Firefighter Wage Parity, Monthly Labor Review, Vol. 119, Number 4, pp 13-20

Nemko, M., (2007) Career Chemistry: Best Jobs for Social People, U.S. News and World Report, July 19, 2007

Oxford English Dictionary (2007) Accessed August 7, 2007 at http://0-dictionary.oed.com.salty.slcpl.lib.ut.us/cgi/entry/50189445?single=1&query_type=word&queryword=professional&first=1&max_to_show=10

Training; Call for Vocational 'Police' Qualifications, (2004) Personnel Today, Vol. 9, General Reference Center Gold. Thomson Gale. Salt Lake Public Library. Accessed August 6, 2007 at http://0find.galegroup.com.salty.slcpl.lib.ut.us:80/ips/infomark.do?&contentSet=IACDocuments&type=retrieve&tabID=T003&prodId=IPS&docId=A121648270&source=gale&srcprod=GRGM&userGroupName=slpl&version=1.0