NCJ Number
194090
Date Published
2002
Length
14 pages
Annotation
This chapter describes a saturation operation conducted in the Remount Road-West Boulevard area of Charlotte, North Carolina in September of 1997.
Abstract
The Remount Road-West Boulevard area is a predominantly African American residential area, located about one-mile southwest of the central business district. Both residents and business owners and managers long have complained about speeding and other traffic problems in this area. Traffic fatalities and hit and run accidents are common. Residents and business people have been concerned with crime, disorder, and the physical deterioration of the area. Largely in response to neighborhood complaints and concerns, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) decided to initiate a saturation operation in the area. Saturation patrol involves a collection of officers, often from various agencies, shifts, or tactical units, who, in uniform, saturate a designated area for days or even weeks. The goal of a saturation operation is to temporarily displace or eliminate a problem from a designated area. The saturation operation focused upon both speeding and traffic problems and crime and “quality-of-life” issues. A survey of both residences and businesses in the West Boulevard-Remount Road area was conducted between October and November 1997. For comparison, the reported incident statistics for the Reid Park neighborhood of Charlotte were also analyzed. Both survey data and reported incident statistics suggested that crime decreased in the Remount Road-West Boulevard area in the period after the saturation operation. The saturation operation appeared to have at least a modest effect upon crime in the area. The perceptions of residents and business people were not completely congruent with official statistics. Additional research on the effects of saturation operations, other than drug crackdowns, is necessary. 20 references