Proactive Policing

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In the United States, there is a very high expectation of what police officers are supposed to be able to do when it comes to crime control and crime prevention. Due to crime shows and other crime adaptations, they make it seem like police officers are able to accomplish a lot more than they really can. Despite what television has shown, one has to really consider what they can reasonably expect from police when it comes to crime prevention and crime control. One aspect that should be reasonably expected by the police, is realizing that majority of policing is reactive. Reactive policing is when police officers primarily respond to calls of service (Worrall). This meaning that a lot of what police officer handle begins after they are alerted that a crime has been committed. This method of policing has been reviewed by critics and it is not a highly favored way of policing (Worrall). Even though it is not highly favored, in many cases this is what police officers rely on. Since the police cannot see into …show more content…

One way in which individuals can expect the police to proactive in crime control and prevention is through directed patrol of hot spots. This is when the police patrol specific areas that are known to have high criminal activity (Worrall). People can expect this from the police because police officers already know certain areas that have proven to have a lot of criminal activity. Since they have that information they know which areas to patrol and what they should be looking for. In many studies it has also shown to be a successful tactic at preventing future crime from occurring (Worrall). However, due to the fact that a lot police departments have a low officer per citizen rate (Worrall), directed patrol is likely not be used by every police department but by those who have enough officers to effectively implement directed

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