Officers on Patrol: A Qualitative Examination of Patrol Officer Behavior and Decision Making

摘要

The understanding of what patrol officers do, and why, suffers from a lack of perspective presented from the officers themselves. To develop this understanding, a qualitative methodology was employed in the current study which entailed ride-alongs and semi-structured interviews with 59 patrol officers of the Fargo, ND police department. Research inquires focused on how officers viewed patrol work, how they conducted it, and how they viewed, and utilized different forms of intelligence that might assist them in their patrol duties. In the context of patrol work, officers discussed the purposes of patrol and how they serve them, their personal goals, and feelings, obstacles, beat coverage, dispatch, prioritization of duties, techniques, patrol focuses and departmental expectations. Officers also discussed the utility and value of departmental and officer derived intelligence and the nature and quality of communication between both officers and the department. Results revealed the importance officers place on the act of patrolling, the patrol obstacles generated through short staffing, high call volume, and what officers referred to as nuisance calls. Also revealed was a set of officers' informal working rules that constituted a beat management philosophy known as beat integrity. Results also uncovered the importance that officers place on communication with both the public and the department, the problem natured focus of their patrol activities, their self-reliance on officer generated intelligence, and the negative views they held regarding the quality of departmental intelligence. Results suggest how this deeper understanding of officer behavior and decision-making can improve officer development, officer satisfaction by addressing their focuses and concerns, and the dissemination and quality of intelligence.