ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE

POLICE FIELD OPERATIONS AND

PATROL

I. INTRODUCTION

A. The uniformed field officer is the personification of law enforcement in the United States.

1. Field officers become the representatives of city government, because they are

highly visible.

2. How does the community see the police?

(1) they know and respect them as their protectors.

a. Majority of the people in the community respect the police

b. Others, see the uniformed officer as a nuisance.

c. Some look upon them as the enemy.

3. The officer has a responsibility to serve all members of the community with equal dedication, respect, and with a sense of justice.

4. Approximately one - half of all the local police departments in the United States employ fewer than 10 officers.

a. Less opportunity in these small agencies to specialize.

5. At the other end of the spectrum, we have 34 police departments and 12 sheriff's departments that are quite sophisticated and highly specialized, employing more than 1000 officers.

a. Officers assigned a specific line of duty, such as detective, juvenile detective, burglary detective, or homicide detective as example.

6. The basic field unit is usually known as the patrol division.

B. Objectives of police field operations

a. The phrase -- "To protect and serve"-- means to provide all those services a police officer will be expected and required to provide.

1. Defense of life and property

(1) Agencies must open lines of communication between the people and the officers who serve them.

(a) Included in this category is the function of "community relations"

(b) "Community relations" is a series of programs to educate and inform the public about department attitudes and policies concerning law enforcement and crime prevention.

2. Participative law enforcement

a. Attitudes of the people about how effective the police are in protecting them is extremely important.

b. Teamwork between the public and the police is very important if police are to perform effectively.

c. There needs to be a constant interchange of ideas and expression of needs between the police and the people.

d. Police need to make a constant and deliberate effort to know their district and the people in it.

(1) Some people have called this "community-oriented policing".

e. The field officer's responsibility is to ensure that this one - on - one relationship between themselves and the public yields maximum results.

f. There must be a constant effort to allow the people to know the overall attitudes of the department toward its general and specific responsibilities.

g. There is no better opportunity for the police officer to cultivate attitudes toward the police (positive, it is hoped) than through personal and informal contacts.

3. Prevention of criminal and delinquent behavior

a. This police objective is aimed at ways and means of reducing the desire to commit crime.

b. There is no way to measure how much crime police prevent.

c. It is nearly impossible for police to convince the successful burglar who makes thousands of tax-free dollars per month that crime does not pay.

d. The police have a responsibility to identify those offenders, delinquents, and near - delinquents before an arrest becomes necessary.

e. Through keen observation and diligent investigation, the officer attempts to locate and detain the first-offender either before or during the commission of a criminal act.

4. Repression of criminal and delinquent behavior

a. Repression of crime is generally accomplished either by having police officers maintaining a highly visible profile or by publicizing a highly active undercover operation.

b. The objective is to cause people to decide not to commit crimes

for fear of being caught in the act.

c. The theory is based upon the assumption that people will not commit crimes if they believe they are certain to be arrested when they do.

d. Police omnipresence - the would - be criminal will refrain from misbehaving because of the likelihood that police will suddenly pop out from nowhere and arrest him.

e. Crime repression by police patrol is totry to create an impression of total andcontinuous presence without creating an air of oppressive dominance.

(1) A continuous and unpredictable patrol by the field officer is an attempt to create this feeling of omnipresence.

f. One of the most effective activities of the crime repressive role of the police is the field interview program, which consists of making actual field contact with individuals police encounter in their patrol area.

(1) When a suspects presence causes the officer to have reasonable suspicion as to their identity and motive for being where they are under the circumstances that call for further inquiry.

5. Identification and apprehension of, and conviction of, offenders

a. Field officers must know their patrol area and the behavior patterns of the people in them.

b. Patrol officers must be in a position to readily identify obvious or suspected violations of the laws and to take immediate enforcement action when possible.

c. It is an officer’s responsibility to know what is a crime and what is not.

d. The officer must begin the investigation as soon as possible.

(1) Locate and question victims and witnesses.

(2) Protect the crime scene against further contamination.

(3) Attempt to locate and apprehend the suspect.

e. The due process provisions of the Constitution of the United States and the courts interpretations have served

as controlling influences on such police procedures as field interviews, stop and frisk, arrest, search, seizureof evidence, interviewing the suspect, use of force, and various other activities.

(1) It is the officer’s duty to assure fair presentation of evidence in court to assure a conviction that will withstand the test of constitutionality.

6. Traffic flow and collision reduction

a. Traffic must be free - flowing and collision - free so that people may move safely

from one place to another.

b. The police must determine the causes of congestion and to relieve it.

c. This involves investigation and the three E's: education, engineering, and enforcement.

(1) Enforcement most highly visible aspect of the police traffic responsibility.

(a) Focus attention on those violations that cause the most number of injuries and property damage.

(2) Engineering - analysis of the collision statistics show that an inordinate number of unlawful left turns at a certain

intersection are listed as the cause of collisions.

(a) May need a left turn lane and a traffic signal with a left - turn green sequence.

(b) Officers in the field can recognize these problem because they are dealing with it on a daily basis.

(c) Officers should pass this information on to the city traffic engineer or public works department.

(3) The education aspect of traffic control can reduce collisions by requiring violators to attend traffic school classes.

(a) Education of the driving public is aimed at changing the behavior and attitude of people who knowingly disobey the law.

7. Maintenance of order and the public peace

a. This is one of the broadest functions - It is in the "all other" category.

(1) Includes not only those activities that have been legally delegated to the police but also those assumed simply because there was no one else to do them.

(a) Police must maintain a constant and vigilant patrol, frequently making direct

contact with a number of people.

Demonstrates their presence in a peacekeeping role.

Timely response to called - for services to referee disagreements in family and neighborhood situations that would erupt into full - scale fight situations without their presence.

(2) Police are required to attend places where large numbers of people congregate, such as stadiums, theaters, and places of political rallies to maintain order and prevent violations of the laws.

(a) Police are also required to enforce the people's rights to assemble peaceably and express their opinions and beliefs.

(b) Police may be dispatched to quiet a boisterous party, loud radio, or the public gathering that grew into a riot.

a. Directing traffic at fires or collision scenes.

b. Controlling crowds and preventing panic at

disaster scenes.

8. The "order maintenance" process includes many other responsibilities, such as:

c. Providing a stabilizing influence in times of emotional upset.

d. Most breaches of the peace are settled merely by firmly suggesting that the violators desist and comply with the law.

II. ACTIVITIES OF THE PATROL DIVISION

A. Routine patrol and observation

1. Basic patrolling activities are usually referred to as "routine."

a. An officer’s tasks should never be taken so lightly as to be considered routine.

b. It should be the officer’s "routine" not to patrol the beat the same way twice.

(1) Many intelligent and wealthy criminals have attributed their phenomenal successes to their ability to work around the time schedules of the field officers.

(2) Criminals learn the shift hours, patrol assignments, and number of officers on patrol at any given time.

(3) They use this information to analyze the patrol methods employed by the officers

working the beats where they intend to commit their crimes.

c. Patrol officers should avoid driving the same route in the same sequence when they leave their office.

d. Officers should avoid a fixed pattern for patrolling their beat.

1. Wherever people gather in sizable numbers, the police should be visibly present.

a. Police presence should alert anyone inclined to break the law that there would be a greater probability of arrest.

B. Preventive attendance at public gatherings

b. This also assures a more peaceful assembly

(1) Riot prevention is much better than riot control.

c. Freedom of assembly is a basic freedom assured by the First Amendment to the

Constitution.

d. The officers’ first duty when arriving at the scene of an assembly is to determine that it is lawful.

(1) Police should remain present to assure the assembly continues to be peaceful.

2. There are times and places where anything more than a casual police presence and departure could be misinterpreted as oppressive.

a. Officers standing around the polling place on election day could be perceived as

government intervention into the free - election process.

C. Benevolent and community services

1. Police are often called upon to perform many services that do not appear on any list of job specifications for police officers. Mountain Rescue

Toys for Kids

2. Although not required by any law, many of these tasks have become traditional simply by the officers' own willingness to do them as a service to the people who ask for them.

a. Police are called upon to perform midwife duties at childbirth.

b. They are expected to render first aid to collision or disaster victims, even though those activities are generally the responsibility of medical service personnel who are better trained and qualified to perform the task.

c. Sometimes officers have been known to dip into their own pockets to help less fortunate people on their beat.

3. Police are called upon to referee neighborhood or family quarrels when they have reached the violent stage.

4. Police sometimes deliver death messages when the appropriate spiritual counselors cannot be located.

5. Officers may be called upon to help people get into their homes or autos when a is not available.

6. There seems to be no other agency that is geared to cope with the unusual and expected.

7. Police departments also provide chauffeur service for visiting dignitaries and local officials.

a. If the transportation is for the purpose of providing protection, then it is a police responsibility.

1. Security of personal and business property is the responsibility of the people who have legal custody

of that property.

a. It is also the responsibility of local police to protect that property.

D. Business and property security

b. Therefore, it becomes a joint responsibility of both owner and the police.

c. Police agencies should advise the public on how they might make their property as secure and crime resistant as possible.

d. If it were possible to educate successfully all these would - be victims of the need for security, the role of the police would be much easier.

1. Inspections for security against theft are obvious responsibilities of the patrol force. But there are additional types of inspections that police agencies may be required to perform.

E. Inspection services

2. One of the more important is to look for fires and fire hazards at the same time as the check for security against crimes.

3. Since the officer is already on the streets, it is most efficient to extend the inspection responsibilities of the police and then require the officers to report the law violations or unsafe conditions to the appropriate agencies.

b. streets and sidewalks in need of repair,

c. building code violations,

4. Included in the various types of inspections the field officer performs are:

a. utility outages,

e. unsanitary conditions in restaurants and grocery stores,

f. obscured traffic signs and signals,

g. professional and business license violations.

d. health and safety violations,

5. Enforcement action might include issuing citations or making arrests for criminal violations and / or submitting a comprehensive report to be forwarded to the responsible agency for further investigation and follow - up to correct the problem.

F. Responding to calls for service

1. The great majority of calls for police service do not involve matters that lead to an on - the -spot arrest or any other action beyond what the officer handles at the scene.

2. Neighborhood children damage fences or border

plants along property lines causing disputes.

3. Neighborhood children get involved in a fight that eventually leads to a squabble between their parents.

4. Husband and wife arguments and fights sometimes require an officer to help settle the

dispute.

5. Police officers may find it necessary to scold a neighbor child for some sort of real or imagined misconduct.

6. In these civil disputes, police presence is legal principally because they were invited or because the disturbance is in public and a primary responsibility of the police is to preserve the peace and ascertain whether anyone has broken the law.

a. Through one of the many services that the officer will refer them to.

b. Or, advising them to settle their differences amicably so that theofficer may return to his other duties.

7. Most of the time, the police action will consist of reminding the participants that their problem is a civil one and that they will have to seek a solution to their problem.

8. It takes a tremendous amount of tact and diplomacy to handle these so - called "minor" problems.

a. The child who fails to respond to a parent's discipline in a demonstration of contempt for an authority figure may be a family problem today but a police problem tomorrow.

9. Many matters involving repossession and property rights, landlord tenant arguments, employer and employee relations, arguments about property lines, and a multitude of "gripes" about various government services will be laid in the officer’s lap.

10. Although officers have little or no authority over any of the principals in these matters, the public expects police to solve the problems, whatever they are.

a. An officer must deal with them intelligently and with diplomatic

persuasion.

11. People commit suicide. The police are called.

12. A woman is having baby. The police are called.

13. An elderly bedridden person falls out of bed and needs help getting back into the bed.

The police are called.

14. An explosion destroys the three lower floors of a hotel.

The police are called.

The police respond to whatever emergency arises take appropriate action, prepare the necessary report, and then resume patrol.

G. Animal control

1. There are separate agencies that handle problems of lost, stray, abandoned, or injured animals.

2. The police department will be called in to investigate and enforce violations of animal abuse.

3. With the constant availability of a police patrol unit, it will not be unusual for an officer to have to round up an occasional dog or cat or snake that strayed away from its home.

4. An officer will also be called upon to provide for the treatment of injured animals and disposal of those less fortunate ones that are killed in traffic.

H. Traffic Direction and Control

1. One major responsibility of a field officer is to assure safe and efficient movement of vehicular and pedestrian traffic.

2. Traffic control and collision prevention require constant vigilance.

3. Officers must respond to traffic collisions and protect the scene

from further damage and injury.

4. The patrol officer will be called uponto provide traffic control services at scenes of fires, large crowds and gatherings at public events, rush-hour traffic, and traffic tie - ups caused by

inclement weather or unusual road conditions.

5. Whatever the problem, the field officer will be expected to address the problem the best way that they can and to call for whatever assistance is necessary to protect the scene and restore it to normal.

I. Information services

1. The field officer and the department are expected to be the wellspring of information about everything in its jurisdiction:

a. Where everything is and whatever is happening, and where it is happening.

b. Officers should know the street - numbering plan for the city.

c. The patrol officer should know where the all - night service stations are located, which pharmacies stay open late and provide emergency all - night services to the ill.

d. People will ask about the old - fashioned ice - cream shop, rare book store, sheet music store, bicycle repair shop, or a place to have film developed while they wait.

e. The officer is the weather bureau, the chamber of commerce, and the departments goodwill ambassador.

f. The patrol officer is the best source of information for fellow officers and other emergency services as to the location of road closures and other hazards, street parties, and other occasions where it appears there will be trouble later if you let it get out of hand during the evening.

J. Preliminary investigations

1. Field patrol officers perform preliminary investigations of

traffic collisions and criminal law violations.

2. The patrol division is actually in the better position to handle these initial investigations.

a. The first officer on the scene must look after the safety of the victim and witnesses.

b. The patrol officer may need to apprehend the suspect if one is at the scene.

c. The first officer’s arriving will be required to take immediate steps to protect the scene from any further contamination.

d. The officers’ job is to observe carefully all evidence before anyone has had a chance to contaminate it -- to reflect or to change their stories or to fabricate alibis.

3. The field officer will question the

victim, the witnesses, and any suspects that he/she may encounter.

4. An important aspect of the investigation is the collection of evidence, cataloging it, and then

preparing the reports.

5. Additionally, officers investigate vagrants, loiterers, and street walkers.

6. Officers conduct field interviews with people whose presence in a particular place and under certain circumstances cause them to have a reasonable belief that they should be checked out.

K. Collection and preservation of evidence

1. Important to the investigation process is the proper handling of evidence for the purpose of assuring a fair trial of the accused.

2. The field officer must be careful

to avoid contaminating any more evidence than is necessary.

a. The officer must assess carefully the situation when he arrives and then methodically collect and prepare the evidence for transportation to the laboratory for analysis.

b. Maintain a log on the chain of possession for all evidence.

c. The officer may be required to prepare sketches and diagrams.

L. Arrest of offenders

1. Second only to caring for the injured, the field officer’s

primary responsibility at the scene of a crime is to locate and arrest the offender.

2. Once an officer effects the arrest, he may use one of several alternative methods to introduce the arrestee into the criminal justice system.

a. Officers may take the arrestee to jail, where the "booking," or

processing, begins for some offenses.

b. In some situations, the arrestee may be taken directly before a magistrate in lieu of booking and bail.

c. For some violations the offender may be issued a citation and are allowed to sign a promise to appear in court on or before a specified date.

(1) The citation method has been used extensively in traffic cases for many years, and in some states

more recently, it has been extended

to cover most misdemeanor violations when

immediate releaseposes no threat to life or property.

M. Preparation of reports

1. Nearly everything the officer does while assigned as a field patrolofficer will be committed to some sort of a written or printed report.

a. Who was involved in an incident,

b. What were the circumstances,

c. When and where did the crime or incident occur

2. The field officer will be required to prepare a detailed report on:

3. Preparation of reports is one of the most time - consuming of all police activities and one of the most demanding.

4. The reports that officers prepare are used as the basis for determining whether to charge an individual with a crime.

5. A poor report will be interpreted as a poor job.

1. This is the final step in the investigation process.

N. Testifying in court

2. The officer is responsible for presenting evidence and testimony factually and without bias.

3. The final determination of guilt or innocence is the responsibility of the judge or Jury.

III. DISTRIBUTION OF THE PATROL FORCE

A. Introduction

1. It is uncertain as to how many crimes are actually committed every year, but it is widely agreed that considerably more are committed than are actually reported.

2. How many crimes the patrol force will prevent, if any, is another figure that we can only speculate

about.

3. Of the crimes that are reported each year, the numbers that are cleared by arrest are much

lower than we would like to see.

4. The police department is charged with prevention, repression, and solution

of crimes within the framework of limitations of funds, human resources,

and available equipment.

5. Distributing the patrol force so that it may do the most good is a major area of concern for a police agency.

B. Policy decisions concerning distribution

1. When developing a priority sequence on field assignments,

certain questions must be answered.

a. Which calls for service will be handled by telephone, and which ones will require an officer to be sent.

b. Which calls will be "counseled out" by advising the calling party that the matter can better be handled by another agency?

c. What portion of the crime investigations will be handled by patrol officers, and at what

point will cases be turned over to the specialists?

d. How much of the public relations function of the department will directly involve the patrol officers?

e. How will priorities be established to give precedence to certain types of calls over others?

2. Each department has developed a manual of procedures concerning all anticipated police activities and attached priorities.

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C. Factors that determine patrol deployment

1. Making maximum use of human resources and equipment is the responsibility of the police chief, particularly when deploying the patrol force.

a. There are never enough people authorized to accomplish all the police objectives.

b. Arranging work days and hours, vacations, holidays, and days off, the object is to meet the community's demands for police services when needed.

2. The following variable factors must be taken into consideration.

a. Resident and transient populations, particularly in business and tourist centers.

(1) A beach community

(2) The county seat or industrial center

(3) A "bedroom community"

b. Numbers and types of crimes and arrests.

c. Locations of crimes and arrests.

d. Traffic collision statistics and patterns.

e. Locations of "frequent incidents" or hazards

f. Disproportionate concentrations of population

g. Zoning plan of the city (relative locations of business, industrial; residential, and other types of zoning).

h. Size of the jurisdiction (in square miles) and shape

i. Geography and topography.

(1) Mountains, bays, ravines,rivers, lakes, etc.

j. Parks and recreational facilities.

k. Streets and highways.

(1) Consider total mileage and configurations, traffic flow

patterns, state of repair and construction.

b. reach sound conclusions,

c. and make the investigation meaningful and valuable.

l. Modes of transportation and locations of transportation terminals.

m. Known locations where criminal offenders live and go for recreation.

n. Number and qualifications of officers available for field duties.

D. Designation of districts

1. Using the preceding factors a police administrator must

apportion its policing jurisdiction into patrol districts that can be equitably handled by the assigned officers.

2. With the aid of computer data agencies assign their officers based on the needs of the districts.

3. The field officers must be aided by current and valid information about the crime and other police required activity in their respective

districts.

4. The purpose of patrol is to minimize the successes of criminals through strategy based upon knowledge and experience.

IV. TYPES OF PATROL

A. Foot patrol

1. The original type of police patrol.

2. The officer is confined to small areas and it limits the scope of activities.

a. Foot patrol is still among the most effective types of patrol.

b. The methods of foot patrol consist of the fixed post, line beat, and random patrol.

c. Foot patrol is restricted to small areas and is used to deal with special problems that cannot be handled by the officers in radio

cars.

e. Moving foot patrol is used where there is considerable foot traffic, as in business and shopping centers, bars and taverns, high - crime areas, and special hazard areas and on streets where there are many multiple - family dwellings.

d. Fixed foot patrol is usually used for traffic, surveillance, parades, and special events.

B. Horse patrol

1. Horses may be used for large park areas or similar places where automobiles either cannot go or may be forbidden.

2. Horses also work quite well for moving crowds of people.

3. Search and rescue in hilly, undeveloped terrain is very successful by teams of officers on horseback.

1. Primarily used for traffic control and enforcement.

2. Speed and maneuverability are outstanding characteristics of the motorcycle.

C. Motorcycles

D. Bicycles and small vehicles

1. The bicycle has been used by many agencies as a simple and inexpensive means of silent

transportation to carry police officers throughout their districts.

2. Small newly developed motorized vehicles have been employed by various police agencies for whatever needs they meet.

a. Small vehicles may be used for routine patrol to replace or augment foot or automobile patrol.

b. Officers may wear casual street clothing and provide patrol

coverage with these vehicles without being identified as police officers until the moment arises

when an arrest is imminent.

3. Bicycles and other small vehicles permit the foot patrol officer to carry equipment that otherwise

would be carried in an automobile.

4. The small vehicle as a patrol unit can cover shopping malls, pathways and trails, and other places where automobiles cannot travel.

5. Some agencies employ the use of snowmobiles and dog sleds in the northern states and Alaska.

6. Gliders for silent overhead observations of suspected farming of illegal crops.

7. Balloon tire motorcycles for the beaches, and boats for the waterways.

E. Helicopters and fixed - wing aircraft

1. Fixed - Wing aircraft are excellent for patrolling long stretches of highways or open undeveloped land.

2. Fixed - Wing are used to transport people and equipment.

3. Police use them for surveillance, and for search and rescue.

4. The first airborne police unit in the United States was created in New York City in 1930, to apprehend daredevil pilots flying and doing

stunts above the city.

5. The helicopter can be flown at lower altitudes and it may be used when marginal visibility conditions exist.

a. The helicopter is a true champion of versatility.

b. The helicopter is used for rescue, medical evacuation, traffic control, general patrol, criminal apprehension, surveillance and searches.

F. Automobile patrol

1. The most extensively used and the most effective means of transportation for police patrol.

2. On the beach it may be a Jeep with four - wheel drive and balloon tires.

3. General street patrol, it is an efficient late - model car with high - performance capabilities.

a. It may be a dune buggy for desert patrol or like a safari-type vehicle for mountains and forest areas.

b. In the urban community, the vehicle is the distinctively marked late model automobile.

4. The police car is a mobile police station.

G. Boats and amphibian vehicles

1. In jurisdictions that patrol beaches, shorelines, and inland waterways, various types of deep - water and shallow - water boats are put into service.

2. Smuggling of people and contraband from coastal waters into inland harbor areas is a constant problem.

3. Investigation and apprehension can be accomplished only with the aid of boats and helicopters.

this concludes

Police Field Operationsand

Patrol