Читать книгу Police in America - Steven G. Brandl - Страница 136

Although there is no doubt law enforcement is an important reason why we have the police, it must be understood that the police spend relatively little time on law enforcement activities. Several studies, although dated, have examined the workload of officers. Some have analyzed how officers spend their time (Exhibit 4.1); others looked at the types of calls that the police handle. All of the studies come to the same conclusion: Law enforcement makes up a relatively small portion of what the police do. This conclusion is so well established that it may explain why so little recent research has been conducted on the topic.

Similar to the Cincinnati and Wilmington studies (Exhibit 4.1), other studies that analyzed calls for service (not necessarily how time was spent) have concluded that approximately 25% of calls relate to crime; the remaining 75% involve noncrime matters.⁶ A recent analysis of calls to the Portland, Oregon, Police Department also showed that more than 75% of calls were from citizens asking for the police to intervene in situations where a crime was not committed.⁷ Indeed, according to criminologist James Fyfe, “Most of the people with whom the police interact need help with problems not related to crime.”⁸ Other studies call attention to the substantial amount of time that patrol officers spend on patrol, which ranges from 25%⁹ to approximately 40%¹⁰.

The bottom line is that although law enforcement is an important responsibility of the police, it constitutes a relatively small portion of what they do. As such, the reality of police activities is much different than what is portrayed in the news headlines or on television (Exhibit 4.2). Nevertheless, one could expect to find variation in the amount of time (or proportion of calls) devoted to law enforcement across cities, patrol beats, shifts, and officers’ job assignments.

Exhibit 4.1 How Do Police Patrol Officers Spend Their Time?

Although these studies were conducted in different places at different times, the findings do not vary dramatically: In Cincinnati, Ohio, 18% of officers’ time was spent on crime-related matters as compared to 26% of officers’ time in Wilmington, Delaware. In both cities, most officer time was spent patrolling.

Figure 4.1 How Police Spend Their Time: Cincinnati, Ohio, Police Department

Source: Cincinnati, Ohio, Police Department.¹¹

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Figure 4.2 How Police Spend Their Time: Wilmington, Delaware, Police Department

Source: Wilmington, Delaware, Police Department.¹²