Introduction
In the contemporary society, crime has had a negative effect on the management and growth of the economy over time. Most of the time, the police foot patrol is adopted in the society with an aim of reducing a violent crime hot spot in the regions. It is a process which involves the deployment of veteran police officers in the patrol areas in an average of 3 miles of the street during one shift per day (Ratcliffe et al, 2011). In accordance with the research has found that the police foot patrol program tends to improve the community's perception of the police and to reduce the fear of crime.
The Goal of the Program
The policing tactics experiments are the three main controlled random field approaches is used. These comprise of the foot patrol, the offender focused policing and problem oriented policing. The flint foot patrol is implemented to ensure that there is a reduction in violence in a violent crime hotspot. It is to improve the presence of the police officers so as to enable them become familiar with the routine activities of the people living in the society. It is also used as a method of ensuring that the officers apprehend the suspects when the crime occurs as well as preventing the crime from occurring (Ratcliffe et al, 2011). These ensures a peaceful coexistence among the people in the society.
The Activities of the Experiment
During the implementation of the Flint Foot Program Experiment should occur in 5 days a week within a course of 12 weeks. The police officers patrol the targeted areas in pairs for at least 8 hours per day. These officers must be of varied years but relevant skills and knowledge of investigating an issue or event. The head to the police in the region should have the discretion over the number of police officers who should engage in the patrol per a given shift and should make major decisions over the operational decisions. The timing of patrol should be varying depending on the nature of the crime as well as the location of the area.
The Theory of the Flint Foot Program Experiment
In accordance with the deterrence theory, the police patrol should be increased in the hot spot areas to reduce the rate of crime. In the situation where offenders view the police in their neighbourhood, they tend to perceive the risks of apprehension as compared to when the police would have not been in such areas (Carter, 2012). Besides, the theory states that the process enables the police to become familiar with the environment, the residents and the local patterns of behaviour which is exhibited by the criminals and the public. These will enable them to identify those who behave in a unique manner, a process which increases the chances of arresting criminals. Also, the presence of the police offers in an areas tend to increase the costs of committing crime to the law offenders, a process which tend to force the offenders to stop their ill operations and motives.
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Order an essaySteps in Implementing the Flint Foot Program Experiment
The first step of implementing the experiment was to secure the permission of the responsible authorities. In this step the area of patrol should be specified, the number of officers who are supposed to walk in the beats and the time of patrol. The authorities then send the supervisors to the ground without warning to check whether the conditions specified in the letter are met and can be maintained. It thus means that in the state where these guidelines are aborted, then the state funding can be terminated for the foot patrol program (Trojanowicz, R. C., & Banas, 2015). The operations of every beat is then monitored to ensure that they operates within the guidelines and rules which have been put to guide them during the operations. When the conditions are met, the operation is being approved and the operation can begin.
The Benefits and Costs of Flint Foot Program Experiment
The Disadvantages
There are various disadvantages of the Flint Foot Program Experiment. They comprise of the following:
- The program is restricted in one area
- In case of an adverse weather, some of the activities can be curtailed
- During the operations, the capacity of the officers to pursuit is limited.
- The officers are unable to carry certain equipment such as short gun, report forms and the first aid kits.
- In certain circumstances, the communication process might posit serious problems especially when the transistorized portable radios are not utilized.
- Due to difficulty in the communication process, the supervision of the officers in the fields also becomes very difficult and challenging.
The Advantages
The following are some of the benefits which can arise due to the flint foot experiment process:
- The patrol officers tend to make one on one contact, a situation which gives them an opportunity to improve the relationship between the police and the community at large. These thus enhance peaceful coexistence in the society.
- There is a high chance that they will gather more information in the regions in which they are posted since they encounter a large pool of people.
- The officers are more familiar which the physical characteristics of the beat.
- In the case where the communication is efficient, the police may respond to most of the calls which demands police service.
Conclusion
In a situation where the crime rate is very high, the flint foot patrol program experiment is the best method of reducing crime. It is the process of increasing the presence of police in a given geographical area to prevent the frequency of criminal activities. However, when it is not efficiently implemented, then the whole operations cannot bear any fruit. For instance, in accordance to the operations which was carried out in Philadelphia, it was found that the reduces the fear of crime but does not have any effect in the reduction of the incidence of crime. It thus shows that the tactic of fighting crime is not effective in the reduction of crime rate when implemented without combining it with other strategies.
References
Carter, J. W. (2012). The Philadelphia Foot Patrol Experiment: A Randomized Controlled Trial of Police Patrol Effectiveness in Violent Crime Hotspots. Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies & Management, 35(1).
Philadelphia Policing Tactics Experiment: Foot Patrol. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.crimesolutions.gov/ProgramDetails.aspx?ID=450
Ratcliffe, J. H., Taniguchi, T., Groff, E. R., & Wood, J. D. (2011). The Philadelphia foot patrol experiment: A randomized controlled trial of police patrol effectiveness in violent crime hotspots. Criminology, 49(3), 795-831.
Trojanowicz, R. C., & Baldwin, R. (2010). An evaluation of the neighborhood foot patrol program in Flint, Michigan (pp. 1-184). East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University.
Trojanowicz, R. C., & Banas, D. W. (2015). Perceptions of safety: A comparison of foot patrol versus motor patrol officers. National Neighborhood Foot Patrol Center, School of Criminal Justice, Michigan State University.
