Contents
The purpose of the Kansas City preventative patrol experiment was to assess the impact of police presence on crime.
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Introduction
It is generally accepted that an important function of the police is crime prevention. One assumption made in fulfilling this function is that more police visibility will result in less crime. This theory has led to the widespread practice of preventative patrol, in which officers regularly cruise their beats in marked police cars.
The costs of preventative patrol are high, however, both in terms of the financial resources required and the opportunity costs associated with other potential uses of those resources. Given these costs, it is important to have evidence that preventative patrol actually reduces crime. Unfortunately, there is little empirical evidence on this question.
The dearth of evidence on the efficacy of preventative patrol prompted the Kansas City Police Department and the National Institute of Justice to jointly sponsor a field experiment on the question. The results of this experiment, known as The Kansas City Preventative Patrol Experiment, have been interpreted by some as providing strong evidence against the efficacy of preventative patrol in reducing crime and disorder.
The Kansas City Preventative Patrol Experiment
The Kansas City Preventative Patrol Experiment was a study that was conducted in the 1970s in order to research the effect of police presence on crime rates. The experiment was conducted by increasing and decreasing the amount of police patrolling certain areas of the city. The results of the study showed that there was no significant difference in the crime rates between the areas with more police presence and the areas with less police presence.
What was the Kansas City Preventative Patrol Experiment?
The Kansas City Preventative Patrol Experiment was a randomized controlled trial conducted in 1972-1973 which studied the effect of police patrol on crime rates. The experiment found that increased police patrol had no significant effect on overall crime rates, but did reduce Fear of Crime.
How did the Kansas City Preventative Patrol Experiment work?
The study was conducted in two phases from 1972 to 1974. In the first phase, detectives were assigned to work in pairs in unmarked cars during daylight hours only. They could make traffic stops, investigate suspicious activities, and conduct other police business as usual. However, they were not required to respond to calls for service unless they witnessed a crime themselves. In the second phase of the study, detectives were again assigned to work in pairs in unmarked cars during daylight hours, but they were also required to respond to all calls for service.
The results of the study showed that there was no significant difference in the number of crimes committed when the detectives were on patrol compared to when they were not on patrol. However, there was a significant increase in the number of arrests made when the detectives were on patrol compared to when they were not on patrol.
What were the results of the Kansas City Preventative Patrol Experiment?
The Kansas City Preventative Patrol Experiment was a study conducted in the 1970s that aimed to find out if increased police patrols in high-crime areas would lead to a reduction in crime. The results of the study showed that increased patrols did not reduce crime, and that the police officers who were conducting the patrols did not feel that they were effective in preventing crime.
Conclusion
The results of this experiment indicated that there was no significant difference in the rate of crime or citizen fear of crime in the three patrol conditions. In addition, there was no significant difference in police-citizen contacts or police productivity measures. The results of this study suggest that preventative patrol has little impact on crime or citizen’s perceptions of crime.
