Over the years, there are several debates have arisen on the effectiveness of police patrols in crime prevention. Conventionally, there has been a general agreement in society that the primary responsibility of the police force is crime deterrence. Society has placed huge demands on the police force; ranking among the priority is the demand that police reduce the occurrence of violent crimes. This happens irrespective of the fact that there is little police work that is directly engaged in dealing with violent crimes. Yet, police work, the public, the political elite, and police perceive police work to be centered on crime prevention. However, other petty public disorders such as public alcohol abuse, prostitution, vagrancy, and drug peddling may prevail in a certain society than the threats of violent crimes (Kappeler and Gaines 202). Recently, both researchers and police have linked crime and disorder to society’s level of fear of crime and the ability of society to deter criminal activities. The prominence of public concern on these issues has resulted in numerous research being conducted to assess the effectiveness of police patrols in combating three areas of public concern: disorders, crime, and the fear of crime.
It is important to appreciate that there are other forces outside the police enforcement that act to address these public concerns. A good instance is a fact that the penalties that are imposed on certain crimes can deter criminals from engaging in these crimes; a community may also reduce its fear for crime by establishing community patrols, while an individual may implement criminal deterrent mechanisms by fitting home security systems. The above measures form the informal mechanisms that are implemented to reduce crime and disorder; formal measures include police patrols that form the backbone of policing.
Kappeler and Gaines argue that police patrols account for more than two-thirds of the total police force (254). Conventionally, some citizens were allocated crime watch responsibilities; their duties were similar to those of the security guards only that they were responsible for greater areas. The guards were charged with the responsibility of going around the community arresting or interrogating questionable characters and possible law offenders. Thus, they were often dreaded by criminals and proved efficient in crime deterrence.
After the Second World War, the responsibility of crime prevention became a primary responsibility of the police force. Mobile police were invented to increase the capacity of the police force to respond to emergency calls and crime scenes. Since then, preventative police patrols became a core police activity; these patrols are designed to deter criminal activities by ensuring a visible police presence, and by creating a sentiment of public safety and police availability. Thus, through these measures, the police infuse a level of security in the society by acting as a deterrence to lawbreakers. The presence of police in a certain community act to deter crime; a preventative police force is comprised of police officers who pronounce their presence in a certain area. The main reason for establishing preventative police patrols is to instill in the minds of criminals that the police are just a call away and thus discourage them from criminal activities.
The police force has trained personnel who are dispatched to the community to try and prevent crimes before they take place. This form of police patrol is implemented in communities that are prone to higher criminal activities per citizen to combat some of the criminal activities before they take place. This patrol personnel familiarizes themselves with the members of the society and they are in a position to identify members of the society who can provide reliable criminal information; this acts as the greatest police intelligence and measures of combating more complex crimes. These police patrols rely on petty offenders to solicit information of larger criminals in return for not arresting them for their petty crimes. Due to the mutual trust that is established between the police patrols and the petty offenders, the police can obtain critical information that may prevent the occurrence of bigger crimes or leads to bigger arrests.
Furthermore, there are special police officers that are specifically trained to handle community issues. The main responsibility of these officers is to maintain their presence in the community and act as a person with who society can trust and share their problems. These relations are established with the community to build a positive view of the community towards the police and thus increase a sense of security among the citizens. Proper coordination between the police and the community effectively reduces fear and crime levels in society.
After September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States, criminal activities in London kept on growing. Measures had to be implemented to reduce the amount of crime and deter any further increases in criminal activities. Thus, a similar plan to the Bill Bratton plan that was implemented in New York was adopted; Bratton was able to effectively reduce the level of crime in New York by increasing the number of police officers on patrol and maintaining a large police presence in the community (Swanson, Territo, and Taylor 322). The Metropolitan Police established a new police community support that did not possess any weapons or the power to arrest. These police officers were perceived to pose minimal threat to the community, yet they maintained an official police presence thus maintaining an enhanced sense of security in the community.
In conclusion, Swanson, Territo, and Taylor observe that police departments have enhanced their crime analysis capabilities and are better at identifying areas that are prone to crimes; this has improved the credibility of police patrols (379). Now that the police are more efficient in identifying high crime areas, they can intensify their patrols in these areas that are high crime targets and work to prevent crimes before they can occur. This will act to reduce the level of crime and increase the efficiency of the police force in combating crime so that the police force is more efficient. Increasing police patrols and community policing is an effective way of combating crime and it would be an effective means of ending crime if adopted by all communities. If all the police departments were able to identify crime-prone areas and were able to establish good relations with the communities they operate in, they would be effective in enhancing their effectiveness in combating crime. Thus, from the reasons outlined above, it would be viable to conclude that police patrols are an effective means of deterring criminal activities and administering justice.
Works Cited
Kappeler, Victor, E., and Gaines, Larry, K. Community Policing: A Contemporary Perspective. 5th ed. New York, NY: Anderson, 2009. Print.
Swanson, Charles, R., Territo, Leonard, and Taylor, Robert, W. Police Administration: Structures, Processes, and Behavior. 5th ed. New York, NY: Prentice Hall, 2000. Print.