Insights From an Empirical Study: Police Officer Duties and Self-Tasking in Southern England

• In Event: Lightning Talk: Law Enforcement: Duties, Performance, and Tactics

Abstract

An extensive empirical investigation was carried out on officers in a police force in Southern England to quantify their duties, utilizing observational data collected from 105 shifts spanning 926 hours of policing. This presentation will encapsulate four key findings from the study. Firstly, to demonstrate the diverse daily activities undertaken by patrol officers across urban and rural shifts, highlighting that routine patrols sometimes accounted for only 28% of their daily tasks. Additionally, data showed that officers typically had a mere 30-minute window to complete an activity before transitioning to another task, corroborating interview findings that officers felt pressured to engage in proactive work. Furthermore, the significant prevalence and importance of self-tasking, or prioritization, emerged as a crucial aspect warranting examination. Data indicated that 70% of supervisors and 60% of patrol officers autonomously prioritized their tasks, suggesting a widespread adoption of this practice. It underscored the principle that modern police officers, equipped with a diverse range of IT tools, frequently exercised their initiative in tackling routine daily tasks. Given the constraints of resources and the sustained public demand for policing services, this degree of self-tasking was deemed beneficial and encouraging.

Author

• Johannes Pieter Oosthuizen, University of North Georgia