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POLICE PATROLLING METHODOLGY

pbi

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Here's a question for the serving LEO's on the board. I'm not a cop, although I have a few friends who are and I've worked on a number of joint operations of various sorts. What I've always wondered is: what is the actual value of the patrol car, as opposed to foot patrol, in "preventing" crime?

Now, I understand fully that in Canada our municipalities are generally very spread out, and that a single man in a car has mobility and response time that a foot officer probably never would. I understand that the car reduces physical fatigue, and provides all sorts of support and protection for the LEO inside. It's also very visible. But it all seems somewhat reactive.

Are there situations in which foot patrol would actually be more "preventive"?. It seems to me that foot patrol officers would get to know the faces, sounds and back alleys, by day and night, much better than the car patrol. People might be more willing to talk to them.And, if a few officers work an area intensively, isn't that better than a car going down the street maybe once a day? (when I lived in Calgary in 1989-1997, IIRC the average was that each street got a car on average once per week).

I've asked this question a few times of serving LEOs and the answer I usually get is that using more foot presence would just be too demanding:  most departments are not manned for it, and it would result in uneven levels of policing. As well, foot men can't move around as rapidly to respond to other incidents.

What do the police folks here think. (I tried searching this but no luck)

Cheers
 
Many cities do both foot and MV patrols.  Toronto for example has a definate need for it, and they employ both types of patrols.  I am not a LEO though, so I will leave my thoughts out of this.
 
Also not a cop, but someone who's lived and played in some of the seedier sections of a big city - when the weather permits (this is Canada, you realise!  ;)) you'll often see the fellows on bicycles. Talking with a constable (a few years back; I don't think the reasoning has changed), this allows (short-hop) response times approaching that of a cruiser, with a little more kit carried in the saddle bags, while allowing almost the same level of face-to-face interaction as the foot patrol.

I believe some of the southern US cities were looking at roller blades; I don't know if this has actually been implemented. I watched an article on TV a while back that showed two officers practicing brake-and-draw with their sidearms!
 
tank recce said:
I believe some of the southern US cities were looking at roller blades; I don't know if this has actually been implemented. I watched an article on TV a while back that showed two officers practicing brake-and-draw with their sidearms!

That was looked at about 20 years ago in California.  If I recall corectly, it looks good on TV, but wasnt considered feasable when applied to actually pursuing and arresting (especially in hand-to-hand situations) or off of areas where the ground was rough/uneven. 
 
The thing with all these alternative methods of patrol is that when the officer makes an arrest, somebody has to come transport the custody to jail. In most places, that's a patrol officer in a car. Officers on roller blades seems like one of those gimmicky things that don't have much real-world application. Bikes are a defnite advantage in city centers and so forth, but for most patrol situations, there's no substitute for an officer in a patrol car.
 
Good Post PBI

A lot of big city PD's and the RCMP are using Beat Teams in conjunction with Bike units and units in cars, I.E VPD uses Beat Teams in the skids and in the downtown Granville entertainment district, Surrey RCMP uses Beat Squads in the Whalley District and Whistler RCMP has Beat Units in the Village.

A couple of reasons that cars are used over Beat Teams is:
-You can transport your own prisoners
-You have the availability of the on board computer system (Way better than running folks through dispatch as you have access to more information and the time to run them yourselves).
-You can carry extra equipment and thus be flexible for different tasks/call types I.E long arms, bean bag gun, barrier tape, SOCO gear, traffic cones, first aid kit ect.
-You can respond to scenes a lot quicker (VPD was recently unjustifiably lambasted for their response times)
-I think the main reason is, that all PD's are critically short on manpower, Beat units are a luxury that has to be justified through police boards ect. In dense high crime areas where  incidents can be shown to be in close proximity by a crime analyst, then you would find great justification for a foot patrol based response team.

Rollerblades and Segways...never!

Hope this answers your question somewhat.

Cheers Noneck
 
pbi said:
Here's a question for the serving LEO's on the board. I'm not a cop, although I have a few friends who are and I've worked on a number of joint operations of various sorts. What I've always wondered is: what is the actual value of the patrol car, as opposed to foot patrol, in "preventing" crime?

Now, I understand fully that in Canada our municipalities are generally very spread out, and that a single man in a car has mobility and response time that a foot officer probably never would. I understand that the car reduces physical fatigue, and provides all sorts of support and protection for the LEO inside. It's also very visible. But it all seems somewhat reactive.

Are there situations in which foot patrol would actually be more "preventive"?. It seems to me that foot patrol officers would get to know the faces, sounds and back alleys, by day and night, much better than the car patrol. People might be more willing to talk to them.And, if a few officers work an area intensively, isn't that better than a car going down the street maybe once a day? (when I lived in Calgary in 1989-1997, IIRC the average was that each street got a car on average once per week).

I've asked this question a few times of serving LEOs and the answer I usually get is that using more foot presence would just be too demanding:  most departments are not manned for it, and it would result in uneven levels of policing. As well, foot men can't move around as rapidly to respond to other incidents.

What do the police folks here think. (I tried searching this but no luck)

Cheers

pbi,
great suggestions from everyone thus far.  Just to expand a little more..

You are correct that this way of doing business is reactive in nature and general patrol duties do seem to be fragmented from the public.  This discussion can go a little further than our choice of delivery whether by foot or veh.  What is happening now is most services have changed their style of service delivery to adopt some of Problem Oriented Policing models.  Regional size plus departments are implementing these Target teams/Community Response Units to fill the voids between regular calls for service, community concerns, and "hot spots".  So they effectively try strike a balance with both foot and veh modes while addressing some of the cons that you have brought up regarding visibility, crime reduction etc.

Try searching the POP term and you will find lots of material..  When I was in a Community Response Unit, we frequently refered to this site
http://www.popcenter.org/ .  (Yeah a little hokey for some things but it was valuable when you went up against a citizen action committee/town council who were screaming murder over things they had a share in as well..)

Just to close.. I would add that there are many coppers who get out their cars and learn "who's who in the zoo" but I would also agree that many more need to get out as well and break from some systemic habits created by being in a cruiser.   
 
Living in Toronto (and living downtown right by 51 division) I haven't seen too many foot patrol officers.  When I do it's usually during the big events in the summer such as the Caribana weekend where every corner downtown has a couple cops walking around - I've noticed in past years that over that particular weekend that the police seem to have an additional magazine on their belt, or at least that's what it looks like.  The majority of the regular foot patrols seem to be in the high traffic areas like the Entertainment district on weekends and so forth.

The bikes are always out during the summer, as well as the horses downtown.  Interesting anecdote, I was driving with a friend a couple years ago and after running a yellow/red light he got pulled over by a cop on a horse.  My friend deserved the ticket, obviously, but it was just funny. 


Toronto EMS uses bike medics to patrol the downtown core on weekends, particularly in the entertainment district.  They've found that this along with their ERU program has allowed them to cut down response times to calls in the high traffic areas.  As anyone who has driven an ambulance through a crowd of people can attest, it's definitely not fun.
   
 
Perhaps a small station at Jane & Finch is called for....

Mind you the foot patrols would need to be 3 guys or more likely.
 
The resources that a police dept has will definitely decide on number of officers assigned to any one type of duty.  Everyone wants to get the most bang for their buck.

In Toronto officers patrol by car, bicycle, foot, horse, and motorcycle.  Each method is deployed for a different end result, but all can be used for general patrol.  The geographic area the officer is responsible varies, cars, motorcycles and horses usually have a patrol area, foot patrols "walk a beat" which may include malls, subway, schools (anywhere there is pedestrian traffic)

Car - usually emergency response to 911 calls, general patrol.  Downtown patrol areas usually smaller than in suburbs
      - can cover great distance very quickly, can deliver numerous officers to location very rapidly e.g. bank robbery
      - prisoner transport from street to police station / high risk vehicle stops / block off streets / easily change location
      - radio, computers, cell phone, road flares, first aid kit, shoulder fired weapons, radar (laser) all weather 24/7 x 12
      - cross city deployment if needed, victim & witness transportation, unmarked cars or marked without roof lights
      - respond to radio call for assistance and problem solving general police duties and police reports
      - set perimeters of search area by K9 units
      - high visibility, R.I.D.E spot checks, cover large area or stationary for observation from a distance for long periods

Foot - great for pedestrian level high visibility, patrol subways & public transit vehicles
      - slow, street level criminals can easily avoid contact
      - great to visit merchants, bars, hotels, schools, problem areas, parking enforcement.  Best used in downtown areas
      - most foot patrol officers also trained for bike patrol

Bikes - extension of foot patrol, usually highly motivated officers for street level drug areas, back lanes, parks
        - highly mobile and fast silent approach, able to team up and break down quickly for specific enforcement problem areas
        - rapid response through traffic, however limited to smaller geographic distance for rapid response
        - usually ride year round as long as roads not snow covered
        - very efficient, however have less contact with members of general public then when on foot
        - officers usually decide if they ride or walk, unless specific detail given to them

Horse - similar to foot patrol on major streets, laneways , parks, crowd control, rough terrain
          - trained for violent demonstrations

Motorcycle - traffic enforcement, laneways, underground, parking lots, road closures
                - Escorted V.I.P Motorcades or Funeral processions

In a nutshell, the police usually deploy different vehicles and tactics depending the desired objective which is to prevent crime, investigate crime, and hopefully arrest the criminal.  In larger Metropolitan forces, there would be more of an overlap of  specialized units, in some cases a car may be the best all round vehicle.
 
There is a destinction to be made between show horses and working horses.  The RCMP Musical Ride is a symbol of Canada and I doubt anyone would callfor their disbandment  As far as working police horses, nothing beats a trained mounted troop in large crowds and hostile crowd environment.  One mounted officer is worth 10 on foot in these situations.  Horses were used in part to break up the 2001 Queens Park Riot in Toronto, are routinely used to clear large areas of people . The UK police used horses during violent strikes in the 1970's. In the U.S most large police departments maintain a mounted capability

Most people just see them on patrol but don't recognize the capacity and effect that 8 to 24 horses can have in hostile crowds, horses can also be deployed to clear a path for extraction of injured officers persons or vehicles caught in violent crowd situations.



 
I had a chance to see one of VPD's riot horses up close and personal the other day when they were conducting training at the Garrison. WOW... I would NOT like THAT animal to be coming at me...

One interesting thing though, there were these visors that the horses were wearing... I'm almost afraid to say this but... they were cute!  ;D
 
I will admit that a horse can be intimidating to a hostile crowd, especially the threat of being hit by hooves, but is it really effective on patrols?

 
Quiet, fast, good height of eye, intimidating when needed, capable of multi-task from riot control to hearts and minds. A good force multiplier
 
Not in that sense no. Sorry  ::) I was just saying horses were nice tool to have.

On a serious note, I guess in a sense most police forces have traded the biological horse for the mechanical horse.

The motorcycle and the bike. I've seen bike squads in action, and they are extremely effective in my opinion. They are silent, fast and can usually catch up to a suspect, take em down before the suspect can react properly or effectively.

Obviously the limitations on bikes are weather dependent, area of response is limited, and well lets admit it, the rider gets tired thus cutting down the effectiveness at times when it comes to response as well.

But... it's still an excellent tool!
 
There are limitations to police patrol on horseback, but that can be said for any system of patrol.  I guess it is only as effective as the officer riding the horse is alert & observant.  Don't forget, he/she will be in radio contact with other officers in cars and bikes etc and can call for back up.  As long as a police department maintains a mounted  capability the horses will need to be exercised which usually means riding them on patrol.  It is a specialized unit much like a SWAT Team or K9 primarily required for special functions from time to time.  General Patrol would be secondary and mostly used to keep the animals trained to downtown traffic, noises, etc, an untrained field or show horse would likely freak and bolt if a bus or garbage truck drove past him.  I have never heard of a run away police horse in Toronto, but I'm sure it could happen if the horse is spooked and the rider losses control of the reins.

Ya they're cute, but they smell like....horses.
 
In Vancouver, I would say manpower was the greatest limitation on why there aren't more foot patrols. I have worked some shifts where each call had me driving to opposite corners of the district. Big area+plenty of incidents+too few officers= car patrols. It is reactive policing but with the mentioned formula there is little time for proactive policing. 

Each time of patrol has its benefits. Foot, bike, mounted are each used where they would be most effective. Our mounted squad primarily works in Stanley Park but they are regulars in the Downtown east side (skids). Incredibly effective during large events (think Fireworks - 150 000+ spectators each night)

Story - I was on a bike patrol during one of the last Celebration of Fights (fireworks) events. I was standing talking to the mounted guys and rubbing the nose of one of the horses. The horse was mouthing my handlebars for a bit and then ever so gently... reached over and ripped the bell and headlight off of my bike. It made for an interesting damage to police property report.

 
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