Directed and Saturated Patrol

DIRECTED AND SATURATION PATROL: A STUDY OF LAW ENFORCEMENT PATROL TECHNIQUES WITHIN PLACE-BASED POLICING

Abstract

When traditional policing methods have not been proven effective in high crime areas, particularly within highly concentrated urban areas, law enforcement employs proactive, specialized units aimed at prevention and determent of such behavior.  These units practice patrol techniques exclusive to the focus of the mission.  This report will examine two such techniques focused on this type of policing effort: Directed and Saturation Patrol.  This summary will thoroughly define each, interpret actual case study findings examining their effects in their respective societies, and point out similarities and differences with either methodology.  Within its conclusion, this summary will also suggest implementation of these techniques, while effective on many and serious and violent street crimes, often lead to temporal and spatial displacement of criminal activity in other areas undesignated for the purpose of the study, however still within the general community.

DIRECTED AND SATURATION PATROL: A STUDY OF LAW ENFORCEMENT PATROL TECHNIQUES WITHIN PLACE-BASED POLICING

Historically, conventional law enforcement policing has been effective within typical societal environments.  However, in high crime environments, this methodology often requires augmenting and a renewed focus on specific issues within designated areas.  Law enforcement agencies and police departments within these jurisdictions subsequently deploy specialized patrols within these defined areas, with a proactive focus in the prevention of specific crimes.  This approach is known as ‘hot-spot’ or place-based policing (Piza & O'Hara, 2014).  Two methods devoted to this type of policing style are directed and saturation patrol.  Both have similar approaches and overall objectives, but differ in their execution and ending results.  Directed patrol typically targets specific criminal offenses within a defined geographical area.  The intent of this approach is surgical in nature, akin to a surgeon excising a cancerous growth out of an otherwise healthy cell.  The unit has defined orders to ‘excise’ crime out of an exact location, which could range from a few city blocks to several square miles.  Saturation patrol has a similar approach in its implementation to an exact area, however, differs in deployment, contingent of resources (in this case, law enforcement officers or LEOs) to the same place.  These tactics are utilized strategies by law enforcement agencies when standard models of patrol, such as regular beat patrol and conventional rapid response have been deemed ineffective in certain situations and areas, particularly within dense urban settings (Rosenfeld, Deckard, & Emily Blackburn, 2014).  Research has indicated there is statistical support for place-based policing, but the results are mixed.  Reduction in crime is evident, but displacement, both temporal and spatial is also apparent.  This summary will examine the validity to these claims, examine two academic studies discussing the two aforementioned patrol tactics, causation for possible after-effects and results from each case study.

Literature

Brian A. O’Hara and Eric L. Piza authored a 2014 article titled “Saturation Foot-Patrol In A High Violence Area: A Quasi-Experimental Evaluation” considers causation and factors relating for the need of place-based policing, solutions for crime displacement after implementation and conceivable recommendations going forward with the practice.  These authors examined Operation Impact, a place-based saturation patrol directive, launched in Newark, NJ, aimed to crackdown on violent street crime.  During specified night time hours, three platoons of 4 officers defined area of Newark, encompassing approximately one quarter square mile.  Since Newark’s Police sectors are normally three times this size and patrolled by only two officers, Operation Impact clearly signified an augmentation of police presence in the area (Piza & O'Hara, 2014).  This tactic is the essence of saturation patrol; overwhelming a defined geographical area with a police omnipresence as a street level deterrence to lawlessness and disorder.  The authors acknowledge flaws in the research design of the project, pointing out the existence of surrounding areas outside the scope of Operation Impact also experience high levels of crime (Piza & O'Hara, 2014).  The authors explain that officers that regularly patrol the newly specified Impact Zones were replaced with a specialized detail and were readily available to patrol outside of their original area of responsibility (Piza & O'Hara, 2014).  This left less opportunities of crime displacement, which is one of the more prevalent criticisms of saturation patrol.

Authors Rosenfeld, Deckard and Blackburn in their 2014 study “The Effects of Directed Patrol and Self-Initiated Enforcement on Firearm Violence: A Randomized Controlled Study of Hot-Spot Policing” discuss the tenants of directed patrol, its methodology, and the results of its practice within high crime areas within the jurisdictional authority of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department.  The study entailed tactics that included officer deployment to high crime spots shown on maps of each district within the greater St. Louis area.  Officers are then directed, during times of researched peak activity, to engage in self-initiated activities (Rosenfeld, Deckard, & Emily Blackburn, 2014).  These spots consisted of 47 specified geographical areas within the Metro St. Louis area during a span of nine months (Rosenfeld, Deckard, & Emily Blackburn, 2014).  The difference between this and the prior Newark study was the objective of this study was the direct objective of policing for St. Louis’s most pressing crime problem: Firearm violence.  Saturation patrol entails the ‘flooding’ of an area with uniformed officers as a visual deterrent toward criminal activity.  With the directed patrol study in St. Louis, discretion is given to the police officers regarding when and where enforcement takes place.  Enforcement activities include arrest, pedestrian stops, building checks, vehicle checks (occupied and unoccupied) and foot patrol, among others (Rosenfeld, Deckard, & Emily Blackburn, 2014).  Rosenfeld, et. al., (2014), also acknowledges problems with the proposed research design, resulting in contention with the police department command staff in relation to disparity in scope among the nine precincts located throughout the Metro St. Louis area.  Law enforcement officials argued the study did not reflect an equal distribution of hot spots among the districts (Rosenfeld, Deckard, & Emily Blackburn, 2014).  The design was revised, where a single district was dropped from the experiment, resulting in an equal distribution of 32 hot spots, among 8 districts, allotting 4 in each district (Rosenfeld, Deckard, & Emily Blackburn, 2014).