Patrol Allocation Decisions (Essay Sample)

Name
Instructor
Course
Date
Patrol Allocation Decisions.
Introduction
Patrol is one of the most crucial functions of the police that cannot be eliminated. The patrol division is the backbone of the department of police. Most of the money in that department’s operating budget is set for salaries, and the greatest number of police officers are assigned to the patrol division. Therefore, most of the money in the budget is used to support the patrol division. One of the very critical points about the patrol division is its effectiveness impact of the efficiency of all other line units, including investigations and traffic. The reason for this is that the police officers on patrol act as the ears and eyes for the other departments. So if the effectiveness of the patrol division decreases, so does the effectiveness of all the other line departments.In this paper being the assistant chief in the Centervale Police Department (CPD), there are a number of strategies that I would recommend so as to serve the needs of Centervale best.
Reported Crimes
Some departments have experimented with varying the forces assigned to particular beats in accordance to call for service and reported crimes. It is rare for a department to keep careful and long-term records on the effect of saturation patrol in one or more neighborhood. Adequate information is not all that would be needed for a rational allocation of police protection. Even if the perfect administrator had complete knowledge of the outcome of various police deployment strategies, he would have to make a decision rule that would tell which outcome to prefer. In the case of Centervale, we should consider that 80 percent of the crime occurs north of the railroad tracks, and 20 percent occurs south of the tracks.We, however, have to make some distinction between more serious offenses, misdemeanors, and violations. We can also consider the quality of life crimes, such as robbery, rape, assault, burglary, arson and larceny.
Number of Arrests Made
The question of marginal differences in patrol strength is less fundamental than the question of when and where patrols are performed. The effectiveness cost of random patrol across an entire city cannot be compared directly to an alternative patrol allocation, such as concentrating in high crime rate locations. For this reason, the evidence on policing selective kinds of location such as crime hot spots is paramount. Having 80 percent of crime occurring in the north of the railroad tracks in Centervale calls for a high allocation of patrol officers than the south that has a 20 percent crime rate. There have been no experiments comparing one hundred police beats with random patrol to one hundred police beats with patrols limited to hotspots, Until such evidence examines entire police areas with random versus focused patrol allocation, there remains a reasonable argument to be made for either strategy. Using a very expensive approach may not be reasonable without generating the evidence needed to test that hypothesis. The times and places where many arrests are made, therefore, require assignment of more patrol officers.
Population Density
Large central cities are anonymous communities where individuals fade into blocks or large apartments. Major cities support complicated social structures that extend over hundreds of square miles of streets and buildings. Their size provides convenient hiding places for anyone seeking a low profile. The number of officers per one thousand increases as population increases.Major cities tend to allocate their patrol hours to two-man car patrols rather than one-man patrols. In the towns with populations of above one million, more than 44 percent of the patrols should include two men in a patrol car.We should put into consideration the fact that 50 percent of the population in Centervale live in the north of the rail and 50 percent in the south while allocating the patrol officers and patrol cars in this area.
Number of Calls for Service