The Importance Of Foot Patrol

Patrol is known as the backbone of the Criminal Justice System. For most Americans, this man/woman in a blue, brown, or black uniform patrolling the streets is their general idea of “policing”. Every Police department nationwide has a Patrol unit. These Patrol units usually account for up to two-thirds of all sworn officers in the department. For the record, a sworn officer is any officer who has taken an oath to serve and protect, and who has the right and means to arrest criminals. In smaller towns and provinces, the patrol force is typically the entire department. These Patrol officers must stay alert and ready for any situations that they may encounter on the dangerous streets that they are in charge of maintaining. Television is the main reason that a patrol officer’s role is often misinterpreted. It often shows officers rushing from scene to scene, catching bad guys and locking them away just as fast as they possibly can. Sure, that is part of the job, but it often is not nearly that exciting. It can even involve boring tasks such as, directing traffic at accident scenes and road construction sites. In fact, most officers, on most shifts, do not make a

An officer on foot can obviously not cover as much ground as an officer in a car. This is often times made up in the public/police relationship building that the foot patrol officer can partake in. They are able to have more personal contact with neighborhood residents, and can help built trust in the community. For this reason, Police Departments that implement community policing often use foot patrol on a daily basis. However, researchers found that agencies can face a number of challenges when deploying foot patrol officers, such as resource constraints, identifying appropriate performance measures for officers, and fostering internal acceptance for community engagement activities performed by foot patrol