NCJ Number
69965
Date Published
1980
Length
484 pages
Annotation
This report on integrated community policing, a patrol operation in a Melbourne, Australia, suburb, examines the effect of centralizing police stations and increasing police patrol resources and activities.
Abstract
Integrated community policing was a uniform police patrol and patrol car scheme whose principal aims were to reduce the crime level, increase the effectiveness of police service, ensure efficient use of police manpower and other resources, reduce patrol response times, increase accountability of police patrols, allow scientific evaluation of community attitudes toward police services, and provide a model divisional patrol scheme. Assessment methods included attitude surveys of the public, business and professional sectors, and patrol members; analyses of crime rates and trends; and field assessment of selected U.S. police patrol programs. The 2-year study established that there had been significant increases in crime detection, arrests, contact with the public, and patrol car crew activities. Although most of the initial aims of the scheme were achieved, police response time showed no significant improvement as a result of integrated community policing. Recommendations include enactment of legislation to enable police to require citizen cooperation and to permit the police to move illegally parked vehicles blocking driveways. Another legislative recommendation is to require prior notice of defendants' pleas in summary cases. Additional recommendations are made for modified operational and criminal investigation procedures, and telephone training of civilian support personnel. Equipment recommended for efficient functioning includes patrol car radios, increased numbers of police vehicles, a minimum of two patrol cars on 24-hour patrol duty for police stations with a 24-hour responsibility, and continued provision of equipment satchels for patrol car crews. Also recommended for patrol police are online access to criminal history and offender characteristic information linked to vehicle registration, and computerized crime report data. In addition, police should be trained in the impor tance of advising people who call for police service on the likely arrival time of a patrol car, what to do before the police arrive, and what to do after they have left. The importance of a police public relations effort is emphasized. Chapter footnotes, 10 appendixes, over 135 tables, 17 figures, 9 illustrations, and 46 references are appended. Refer to NCJ 69964 for the summary volume of this report.