NCJ Number
184559
Journal
National Institute of Justice Journal Issue: 225 Dated: August 1992 Pages: 23-27
Date Published
August 1992
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This article focuses on how community policing affects police officers' daily work, including how they spend their time, with whom, and for how long.
Abstract
The new NIJ study builds on previous NIJ research, most of it concentrated on a well-established tactic of community policing, i.e., foot patrol. After reviewing foot patrol studies in Newark, NJ; Flint, Mich.; Edmonton, Alberta; and Oakland, Calif., this article describes the upcoming NIJ study, which will use direct-observation techniques to determine how foot patrol strategies have been implemented. The study will focus on a single municipal police department that will have been involved for at least a year in two aspects of community policing: community outreach and problem solving. The department will have taken a "generalist" approach to community policing rather than focusing on a small specialist unit. Patrol officers will be observed throughout the city for approximately 100 full work shifts. In addition, ride along observations of patrol supervisors will be conducted for approximately 10 full shifts. The study will differ from previous observational studies in two major ways. First, in addition to officer encounters with the public, all other police activities will be noted as well, including roll call, time to dispatched assignments, general patrol, traffic patrol, crime-focused strategies, and information gathering. Second, from most previous studies is the systematic debriefing of observed officers about their decision making in the observed encounters. 7 notes