NCJ Number
85881
Date Published
1980
Length
35 pages
Annotation
This study examines the work of the police in Aarhus, Denmark, with particular attention to a comparison of proactive (police-initiated) and reactive (citizen-initiated) police activities.
Abstract
Eighty-three percent of the patrol initiatives involved criminal incidents (penal code, municipal code, and traffic violations); whereas, in the United States (according to Reiss), criminal incidents account for only 14 percent of the proactive work of police patrols. The patrol initiative is important, particularly with respect to drunken driving not involving accidents, the theft of vehicles for use only ('joy-riding'), and incidents of drunken or disorderly conduct in public places. In this study, there is no apparent connection between an increase in the number of patroling hours and an increase in the number of proactively detected cases of drunken driving. A change in the law has made a blood test result typically the only evidence required in cases of drunken driving, which has reduced the time required of police for report writing in these cases. Increased proactive policing in drunken driving cases has also resulted apparently from officers' increased perception that the courts are applying significant sanctions to those convicted. In the case of the theft of vehicles for use, proactive policing also appears to increase when the evidence is strong and a significant sanction is likely to be applied. Thus, two factors apparently encourage proactive policing: an easily obtained and sufficient piece of evidence and the probability of a heavy sanction. These two factors tend to work against one another, however, since offenses carrying a heavy sentence usually call for a case backed by strong evidence obtained within procedural safeguards. Democratic societies must therefore be careful to ensure that an emphasis on proactive policing does not tend to make evidence collection easier by progressively stripping citizens of various currently guaranteed rights. Eighteen notes and 41 references are provided.