How officers spend their time with the community

Using data from field observation of police patrol officers at work in two American cities, we explore similarities and differences between the tasks undertaken by generalist patrol officers and community policing specialists. As expected, community policing specialists are much more able to choose the work they do and the people they encounter. Specialists use their discretion to spend less “face time” with the public and more time “behind the scenes” than do patrol generalists, and to engage a higher-status and less problem-ridden clientele. Implications for adoption of community policing are discussed.

This article is based on data from the Project on Policing Neighborhoods, directed by Stephen D. Mastrofski, Roger B. Parks, Albert J. Reiss Jr., and Robert E. Worden. The Project and the preparation of this article were supported by Grant 95-IJ-CX-0071, National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Points of view expressed in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. The authors gratefully acknowledge suggestions for improvement of this manuscript received from the editor and from anonymous referees.

This article is based on data from the Project on Policing Neighborhoods, directed by Stephen D. Mastrofski, Roger B. Parks, Albert J. Reiss Jr., and Robert E. Worden. The Project and the preparation of this article were supported by Grant 95-IJ-CX-0071, National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Points of view expressed in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. The authors gratefully acknowledge suggestions for improvement of this manuscript received from the editor and from anonymous referees.

Notes

This article is based on data from the Project on Policing Neighborhoods, directed by Stephen D. Mastrofski, Roger B. Parks, Albert J. Reiss Jr., and Robert E. Worden. The Project and the preparation of this article were supported by Grant 95-IJ-CX-0071, National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice. Points of view expressed in this document are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice. The authors gratefully acknowledge suggestions for improvement of this manuscript received from the editor and from anonymous referees.