Objectives of a Split Force Patrol

Traditional Patrol Methods

Police departments use most of their uniformed officers on motorized patrols. This is seen as the most effective means of responding to calls and putting a visible police presence on the streets to deter crime. The preventive or random patrol is the method most often used. Random patrols assign police cars to patrol designated areas. The police officers drive in random patterns through the assigned areas presenting a police presence and responding to calls for police assistance.

The validity of the preventive patrol has been questioned as an effective and efficient use of police resources. A 1972 study in Kansas City, Kansas, found test areas in which preventive patrols were continued at normal levels showed no difference in reported criminal activity than experimental areas in which patrols were either significantly increased or decreased. This study led to a movement away from a reliance on preventive patrols and toward a search for new patrol strategies to maximize police resources.

Following the Kansas City study in 1972, police departments began to experiment with new patrol methods. One of those methods -- the split force patrol -- assigns police units to patrol a designated area in a preventive or random patrol. The primary responsibility of these units is to provide a police presence. Other police units are assigned to the same areas, but their function is to respond to calls for assistance, whether from the public or other officers.

Officers in a traditional preventive patrol system must divide their time between patrolling and responding to calls for assistance from citizens. When responding to calls, the preventive patrols cease until the assigned police unit has finished responding to the call and is again available. The split force patrol system provides a rapid police response to calls requiring police assistance, but, in doing so, does not remove police vehicles from preventive patrol . Split force patrols are seen as a more effective and efficient use of resources in combating crime.