Police Patrol and the Rhythm of Place

• In Event: Crime and Place: Intervention and Evaluation Research

Abstract

Extant research has examined the relationship between patrol and crime. However, previous patrol research has failed to adequately account for treatment dosage and/or adherence. The present study assesses the possibility of utilizing automated vehicle locater (AVL) data which records the geographic position of patrol units within a jurisdiction to measure patrol dosage in specific areas. Treating street segments as units of analysis, AVL data are used to estimate spatial and temporal periodicity of patrol presence in disaggregated hot spots. The applicability of these estimates as measures of dosage and adherence is discussed.

Authors

• Jonathan Allen Kringen, University of New Haven

• Jeff Cancino, Texas State University

• John McCluskey, Rochester Institute of Technology

• Arindam Ghosh, Texas State University