Exam 3 Law Enforcement

differential police response

Handling calls for service by taking reports over the phone, over the Internet, or via some method other than immediate response by a patrol car is called

priority

Calls for service are typically categorized based on

false

Research on 311 call systems indicates that they significantly reduce the workload of patrol officers.

discovery

A crime that is only detected after it has occurred is called a(n) ______ crime.

hot spot policing

Concentrating police presence in locations and times where crime is concentrated is called ______.

Kansas City preventive patrol

The ______ experiment found that increased preventative patrol had no impact on the amount of crime committed.

less likely to contact the police to ask for assistance

Research shows that citizens who experience more traffic and pedestrian stops are ______.

Offender-focused strategies

______ is(are) grounded in the understanding that a small percentage of offenders are responsible for a large percentage of crime, and focusing police efforts to identifying, monitoring, and apprehending these individuals.

Research showed that students who participated in DARE had similar or higher rates of substance use compared to those who did not.

What did evaluations of a common law enforcement practice to reduce substance use, the DARE program, indicate about the program's effectiveness?

By discontinuing practices that empirical evidence shows are ineffective or harmful.

In what way can evidence-based policing improve the efficiency of police operations?

Basing police practices on scientific evidence about what works best.

What is one of the core ideas behind Larry Sherman’s definition of evidence-based policing?

It helps maintain trust and legitimacy of public institutions by using scientifically proven methods.

Why is evidence-based policing important for police agencies in a liberal democracy?

true

Limited training and expertise in data collection and analysis can hinder the ability of police agencies to implement evidence-based practices effectively.

alarms and shot spotters

automated systems

311 system

Non emergency line, and has limited effects on police workload

911 system

created in 1968 and widespread in 1970-1980 with dedicated emergency line and local or regional dispatch system

patrol division geographic division

bats, squad areas, sectors or reporting

visibility of police

patrol can try to create the belief of police omnipresence

preventative patrol

increases the likelihood that citizens see police

what organizational and situational factors impact response times

call priority decisions, police staffing levels and demand or call volume

randomized controlled trial conditions

reactive beat, proactive beat, control beat

reactive beat

no proactive policing

proactive beat

additional patrol squad assigned to facilitate increased proactive patrol activities

control beat

normal patrol strategy

findings on these beat conditions

suggested minimal effect on crime levels, citizens fear of crime, community attitudes, police response times or traffic accidents

empirical support for effectiveness of response times

mixed feelings; kanas city patrol experiment suggested limited effectiveness and may depend on circumstance of call through discovery of crime and involvement of crime

crime that appears to be more responsive

property crime

discovery crime

crimes discovered and reported long after they occur

involvement crime

crime that are in progress

what are majority of calls for service

discovery crimes

important outcome for rapid responses

on scene arrests, collection of evidence, witness identification and citizens satisfaction

law of crime concentration

crime is not randomly distributed in the community and tends to concentrate in specific geographic areas. 5% of street segments produces 50% of crime

hotspots policing

strategy for patrol to observed patterns of crime concentration; micro places with high crime rates

how hotspot policing could influence crime

increased visibility in higher crime areas: once police leave, crime returns, proactive policing which could damage citizen perception, and offender focus; only focuses on high rate offender rather than everyone

proactive policing: traffic stops

enforcing traffic laws and pre textual stops

pre textual stops

police utilize traffic stops to question drivers/passengers and look for evidence of other offenses

pedestrian stops

known as Terry stops (Terry v Ohio) question frisk: means police are allowed to stop, question and potentially search pedestrians

proactive policing effectiveness

increase certainty of apprehension, improve clearance rates, reduce public carrying of firearms; found significant reduction in crime

proactive policing drawback

increases mental and physical health issues, negative attitude toward police and self reported crime

offender focused strategies

using criminal intelligence to find serious repeat offenders(ex. prior arrests, suspected offenses and gang data base)

evidence based policing (Larry Sherman)

police practices should be based on scientific evidence about what works best through results of scientific evaluation of law enforcement tactics, as well as generating and applying knowledge from agencies analysis

benefits of evidence based policing

improving police performance outputs and outcomes like: reducing crime, delivering justice, enhancing police legitimacy, addressing community concerns (fear of crime) and improving police morals

evidence based policing output/outcome

output: what police do (number of arrests, ticketed written and answered

outcome: impact of those actions (lower crime rate, increased public trust

Maryland Scientific Methods scale

consists of 4 levels: 1st level is correlation between a prevention program and a measure of crime at one point in time, and level 4 is random assignment of program and control conditions to units

Policies and practices that have not been evaluated

de-escalation training and less-than lethal weapons

Barriers to evidence based policing

accessibility of research, leadership support and ideology and politics

weisburd study

impact on evaluation designs: classified evaluations based on the sms; 1-5: classified evaluations based on their outcomes termed the investigator reported result (IRR) negative effect: -1/ no/null effect:0 / positive effect:1

negative association between design and outcome

as SMS category increases, the positive effect of the intervention decreases

performance measure

an empirical measure indicating the results of an agency’s work: must be able to collect, analyze, and act upon regularly/overtime

performance measure purpose

evaluation, control, budget, motivate, promote, celebrate, learn, improve

How does COMPSTAT promote accountability within police departments?

By establishing regular meetings where police commanders are held responsible for crime reduction and resource management in their areas

 

Performance management only focuses on individual officer performance, not on overall department performance.

false

Crime rate

What is the most common performance measure in policing agencies? 

What is one internal factor that could affect a police department’s ability to collect and analyze data effectively (i.e., performance measure accessibility)?

Inadequate training for officers on data entry and collection processes

A one-time event or incident can be utilized by the police as a performance measure. 

false

Which of the following is an example of a performance measure output in policing? 

The number of traffic citations issued

What is a performance measure in the context of policing? 

A quantitative or qualitative indicator used to evaluate police effectiveness