As with those officers who characterized their work as mostly reactive, the "mostly proactive" officers also respond reactively to calls for service but the majority of their time is spent in proactive work. As expected, these tended to be school liaison, community service, or youth squad officers. Mostly proactive in the scope of their duties. Finally, 9% of the officers in our sample suggested they are
It is not the case that these officers do not engage in proactive activities it merely reflects the fact that they feel the majority of their actions is reactive. These were most likely to be in patrol or GIS. 40% of the police officers indicated they are mostly reactive in their duties. They indicated that they usually lay charges however, they may make referrals to external agencies and they see this as a proactive activity.
39% of GIS officers also fell into this category. They felt that, in spite of the notion that their jobs in patrol are purely reactive, they actually do both types of policing. Many patrol officers in this category mentioned that they may respond reactively to a call from dispatch, but wherever possible, they try to resolve the incident in a proactive manner. Just over one-half (51%) of the police officers in our sample indicated their job duties are "a bit of both" (reactive and proactive). The distributions of answers given by officers serving in different assignments is shown in Figure IV.15.įigure IV.16 Regional distribution of styles of policing Officers' responses fell into three broadly defined categories: mostly reactive, mostly proactive, and a bit of both - which includes officers who felt their work was both reactive and proactive on a fairly regular basis. We attempted to ascertain where on the continuum of "reactive" and "proactive" police officers perceive their work in relation to youth crime. Thus, these findings suggest a need to distinguish clearly between proactive mobilization and problem-oriented policing practices (Section 7.3 below).įigure IV.15 Style of policing by location of service This finding appears to be counterintuitive to what one would expect when officers employ problem-oriented policing. Possible reasons suggested were the need for more forceful action to gain "legitimacy and control" as well as officers having made a decision beforehand which prompted a proactive mobilization (Seagrave, 1997: 148). One American study found that proactive policing resulted in more arrests, detention and filing of reports than reactive policing (Seagrave, 1997). Directed patrol is more proactive than random preventative patrol however, it still lacks the component of problem oriented policing which engages the community in resolving crime issues. Similarly, in contrast to routine patrol, directed patrol involves police officers being instructed to monitor specific areas that are identified through problem or crime analysis when they are not responding to dispatch calls (McKenna, 1998). For example, an officer responding reactively to a dispatched call could, nonetheless, resolve the issue proactively by mediating between the parties or using informal action. This can also be interpreted in a myriad of ways. In contrast, proactive policing involves the "police, acting on their own initiative, develop information about crime and strategies for its suppression" (Crank, 1998: 244-245).
However, it can also be argued that routine patrol is required in order to facilitate response in a timely manner to dispatch calls. There is no initiative on the part of the officer or the organization to target a specific area or problem within the geographical patrol district. According to Crank (1998), routine or random preventative patrol is by definition reactive policing. Traditional thinking suggests that the mere presence of a police vehicle will act as a deterrent to crime (Trojanowicz et al., 2002). However, the rationale for routine patrol is not as straightforward. Reactive policing can be defined as the police responding to specific requests from individuals or groups in the community which encompasses "immediate response to calls" and "follow-up investigations".
The three main patrol functions within traditional reactive policing are routine patrol, immediate response to calls, and follow-up investigations (Cordner & Sheehan, 1999: 385-394). IV. Organizational Factors Affecting Police Discretion 6.0 Policing styles: Reactive versus proactive policing
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