The scope of this essay is to develop, design, and demonstrate a patrol strategy that is effective and that will best serve the needs of the residents of Centervale. Centervale is a moderately large, suburban, working-class community while the Centervale Police Department has 100 patrol officers. This paper also defines and elaborates on aspects of preventive patrol, broken windows theory, notions of fairness and equity, among others.
Preventive patrol is a type of police service that tries to minimize chances for misconduct. Its operation involves driving or walking and conducting a look out for probable problems (US Legal, 2017). Preventive patrol aims at increasing the presence of police in areas that have a high prevalence of criminal activities. The objective behind preventive patrol is the belief that patrol prevents and deters crime. The primary goals of preventive patrol include the arrest of law offenders, prevention of crime, the satisfaction of the public demands for services related to crime, recovery of stolen property and development of a sense of security and confidence in the law enforcement agency. When people see police officers driving around their neighborhoods, they feel the law enforcement agencies care about their lives and property. Potential law offenders, on the other hand, develop fear and this reduces the number of crimes committed.
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Directed patrol is a technique that is employed by the law enforcement personnel to attempt and prevent criminal activities before they are committed. The tasks may range from conducting traffic enforcement measures on a street where over speeding is a significant concern to conducting surveillance on an apartment in the neighborhood where illegal drug deals could be happening to maintain close focus on any other public security issue(Rosenfeld, Deckard, and Blackburn, 2014). The areas that the police officers might decide to close in on usually come from statistics. The statistics could be based on calls for service or other investigations done by police officers.
In the broken windows theory, scholars argue that disorder encourages the commission of a crime. They further classify disorder into two categories (Wilson, 1982). The first type is the physical disorder that is primarily caused by the presence of vacant buildings, broken windows (hence broken windows theory), abandoned vehicles, and empty lots filled with trash. The other type of disorder is a social disorder, which is a result of aggressive panhandlers, rowdy neighbors, and groups of young people congregating on street corners. All these types of disorder cause fear among citizens. Assigning patrol duties to police officers to such neighborhoods creates the notion of safety presence in the minds of residents. The most profound application of this theory was in New York City by the Police Commissioner William Bratton (Wilson, 1982). Teams of plainclothes officers were deployed to arrest turnstile jumpers. When the apprehension for misdemeanors escalated, there was a significant decrease of all kinds of subway crimes.
According to the principle of equity, a fair security system distributes its services to individuals in proportion to their input. On the other hand, the security personnel should ensure that they strive for an equal outcome in which all group or society members get what they need (Maise, 2013). The notions of fairness and equity are central to retributive, restorative, and procedural justice. These assumptions ensure the generation of consistent, reliable, and unbiased decisions. To ensure consideration, the third party carrying out the operations must be impartial. The rules themselves should be neutral too so that they do not favor some individuals over others from the outset. Fairness and equity create satisfaction among citizens and builds trust and confidence in the security detail. In the absence of justice and equity, the public will view the police as a group of compromised individuals.
The Centervale Police Department has limited resources at its disposal and currently has only 100 police officers. There is a large population in Centervale because it is an urban area and due to its proximity to the city. So many activities, therefore, tend to happen. With the busy atmosphere, the probability of criminal activities happening is high. Some criminal elements may take advantage of the large population as a shield and edge to commit offenses. Petty theft such as pick pocketing and snatching people their little possessions such as handbags and running away with them is a high likelihood especially on congested streets. Robbery is also a possible crime to be committed mainly in the wealthy neighborhoods. Centervale has a reasonably balanced population on either side of the railroad tracks. According to police statistics, there is a relatively high crime rate in the community that lives north of the railroad in comparison with the community that lives in the south. The statistics also suggest that the south contributes more to the tax basket with an estimated 80% while the north only gives 20%. Figures also show that the crime rates go high at night and are significantly low during the day. Finally, the population on the streets and the neighborhood is usually high during the day mainly because many people work during the day.
With the security principles and statistics in mind, there is the need for Centervale citizens to be secure. Because of the high crime rate in the north of the railroad tracks, there will be more deployment of police officers. The north will be assigned sixty patrol officers with forty patrolling at night while twenty will patrol during the day. The forty police officers appointed for the night shift will be instructed to conduct preventive patrols. Thirty police officers will be on foot while ten will use vehicles and motorcycles. This technique will be aimed at reducing chances for misconduct among some elements in the community. There will be direct communication between those walking and the officers using motor vehicles so that in case arrests are made; the cars will transport the law offenders to the different police stations. Use of motorbikes will enhance the presence of police officers and create the notion of safety. Twenty police officers have been assigned the day shift due to low crime prevalence. Each patrol technique will be allotted, five officers.
The suburb south of the railroad tracks according to police statistics has a low crime rate but contributes profoundly to the tax basket. Therefore, notions of fairness and equity have to be applied so that the residents do not accuse the police department of being compromised. Accordingly, the south will be allocated 40 patrol officers with 30 operating at night and ten during the day. During the evening, the 30 police officers will be engaging in preventive and directed patrol. Twenty patrol officers will be assigned to preventive patrol while 10 to directed patrol. There will be two patrol cars and two motorbikes. The ten patrol officers scheduled to work during the day will only conduct a preventive and directed patrol. The officers assigned to the north will occasionally be called to give a hand to patrol officers in the south since it is only a ten minutes call away.
Finally, the allocation of fewer patrol officers during the day on both sides of the railroad tracks is not only because of the low crime rate, but it is also because of the need not to cause alarm among the communities. Citizens need to feel safe and not scared. Since many people carry out their duties during the day, there is no need to make them afraid of having a considerable police presence. The primary goal of any security agency is to maintain law and order as well as build a good rapport with the citizens.
References
Maise, M. (2013). Principles of Justice and Fairness: Beyond Intractability . Retrieved 24 October 2017, from http://www.beyondintractability.org/essay/principles_of_justice
Rosenfeld, R., Deckard, M. J., & Blackburn, E. (2014). The effects of directed patrol and self‐initiated enforcement on firearm violence: A randomized controlled study of hot spot policing. Criminology , 52 (3), 428-449.
US Legal (2017). Preventive Patrol Law and Legal Definition . Retrieved 23 October 2017, from https://definitions.uslegal.com/p/preventive-patrol/
Wilson, G. (1982). Broken Windows. The Atlantic . Retrieved 23 October 2017, from https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1982/03/broken-windows/304465/
