NCJ Number
126774
Journal
Policing Volume: 6 Issue: 3 Dated: (Autumn 1990) Pages: 510-522
Date Published
1990
Length
13 pages
Annotation
A contact patrol program implemented by police forces in Birmingham and London (UK) for a one-year experimental period did not successfully reduce the fear of crime but did substantially improve public confidence in the police.
Abstract
The Citizen Contact Patrols method had first been tried by the Houston (TX) Police Department in the early 1980s; it was successful in reducing the fear of crime. The method assigns a dedicated team to provide full police service in an experimental area and uses as many officers as needed to maintain continuous presence over two daytime shifts to make contact with local residents. In the UK experiments, the officers were instructed to speak to at least one adult representative of each household within the program boundaries or approximately 2,000 contacts in each program. This required knocking on doors and initiating conversations. Results showed that it is feasible to contact a large proportion of residents living on large housing estates within short periods of time and to provide police services with a limited number of dedicated people for two of the three shifts per day. Results also showed that contact patrols could be effective in increasing public contact and improving public confidence in the police, and that both the officers and the residents involved were satisfied with the program. 1 table and 17 references