NCJ Number
92799
Date Published
1982
Length
229 pages
Annotation
Automatic vehicle monitoring (AVM) systems are useful as tools in conducting police patrol research studies.
Abstract
The report demonstrates how AVM can be used to study patrolling patterns and locations, to monitor experiments, and to conduct research in policing. An AVM system provides to the police dispatcher or researcher up-to-the-second vehicle location information. Patrol experimentation in the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department used this information in two studies. The first study found that individuals committing street-visible assaultive crimes do so independently of police cars' locations. Individuals committing street-visible property crimes show a slight tendency to avoid police. Police patrols may serve to deter or displace up to 30 percent of street-visible property crimes. The other AVM-monitored experiment revealed the utility of AVM in detecting and correcting violations of experimental conditions. Future major patrol experiments could benefit greatly from the monitoring capabilities afforded by AVM systems. Appendixes include the St. Louis District Patrol Plan, a sample of the 8-hour FLAIR output, the questionnaire administered to officers, and the mathematical model for analyzing the distance between a crime and a monitored police car. Seventy exhibits and notes are provided. (Author summary modified)