Police Patrol: The Backbone of Policing

Flashcards related to police patrol and policing concepts.

Police Officer

A member of a police department who is sworn to make arrests and carries a firearm; performs general patrol and/or special law enforcement assignments in the protection of life and property; enforces laws and regulations; performs a variety of activities associated with crime prevention, traffic enforcement, crime/accident investigation and reporting; and performs related duties and responsibilities as required.

Uniform Crime Report (UCR)

Crime indexes, published annually by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, which summarize the incidence and rate of certain reported crimes within the United States.

Political Era

An era of American policing which spanned from the 1840s until around the 1930s; policing was dominated by political control, with close ties between the police and politicians.

Reform Era

An era of American policing that sought to correct the inherent problems created by the Political Era; emphasized an organization indoctrinated along traditional lines: highly centralized, bureaucratic, and designed on the premise of divisions of labor and unity of control.

Community Policing Era

A currently evolving era of policing that promotes and supports organizational strategies to address the causes and reduce the fear of crime and social disorder through problem-solving tactics and police-community partnerships.

Crime prevention

Actions taken by the police and the community to reduce crime risks and build individual and community safety.

Neighborhood watch

A citizens' organization devoted to crime prevention within their neighborhoods, whose members stay alert to unusual activity and contact the police.

Problem solving

A critical element of the community policing strategy; a tactic used to produce long-term solutions to problems of crime or decay in communities, where police, residents, and other agencies work together to identify and find the causes for neighborhood crime problems, then develop responses based on these causes.

Differential response

A system in which police calls are prioritized by the seriousness of the offense, with responses matched accordingly; some calls receive immediate response, some delayed, and some may be handled by telephone or other departments.

Reactive policing

When police respond to crime calls after they have been committed.

Proactive policing

When police work with the community to prevent crime; examples include community policing and neighborhood watch programs.

Directed patrol

A strategy where police officers are assigned to patrol and give attention to specific problem areas that are identified through problem or crime analysis.

Coactive policing

An approach where the police, the community, and other public and private resources work together to solve crime and crime-related problems.

Bureaucracies

A concept referring to the way that the administrative execution and enforcement of legal rules is socially organized; most police departments are highly bureaucratic, characterized by standard operating procedures, formal division of authority, hierarchy, and impersonal relationships.

Chain of command

The line of authority and responsibility in a police agency along which orders are passed.

conditional offer of employment

An employment offer extended to a police applicant contingent on the applicant successfully completing the latter stages of the selection process, such as psychological testing and medical and drug screening.