On the Beat

[Orgetorix]

I live in Washington, DC, so police activity is nothing unusual in my world. Hardly a night goes by that several police cars don't go screaming by with lights flashing and sirens blaring. For the most part, the police are just part of the background and I never notice them--they're just faceless people in cruisers. The only times I ever do notice them are negative experiences--when I've just been jaywalking, speeding, or squeezing too close through a yellow/red light. Then I'm hoping the police didn't notice.

So, if most folks are like me, I'm guessing that the police are, at best, a non-entity and a worst a perceived enemy to the average citizen.

Last week, though, I walked out of my house and down the street, and, to my surprise, there was a police officer on horseback making his way slowly down the street! I didn't even know the MPD still had mounted police, let alone used them for patrols. But I was immediately drawn to him. He wasn't a faceless cipher behind a tinted windshield; he wasn't speeding across town to the latest crisis. He was right there for me or anyone else to smile at, wave to, chat with, or whatever. He actually made me think favorably of the police, which is a rarity.

Why don't modern police forces do things this way anymore? When was the last time you heard of a police officer actually "walking his beat?" I've read that many officers today don't even like being out on patrol in their cars because they don't want to deal with the public--they'd rather be inside the station, doing office work. Am I wrong to think that the image and effectiveness of the modern police force would be enhanced if they just took the time to see and interact with average citizens? Any FL members out there police officers? What do you think?

 

[Feraud]

I would appreciate seeing more cops on the beat. It would be a fine deterrent for all those little offenses that lead to bigger ones.

 

[BuddyJ]

I have a different opinion of police than you do, but perhaps that stems from the police in my area actually walking/biking/riding their beats. For example, last night I went to a nice downtown area in Oklahoma City to see a movie and, while standing outside, saw pairs of policemen on patrol multiple times. They keep an eye out for troublemakers, assist tourists in finding destinations, and wrangle panhandlers.

At our State Fair, police patrols have increased in the past years to combat gang problems, and now it's quite common to see them patrolling and interacting with fair goers. We also have mounted patrols who ride their horses through midway areas. From their vantage point, they can observe all sorts of things better, and the little kids love to come and pet the horses.

As a member of the media, I work with the law enforcement agencies in my area and have good working relationships with the officers, detectives, dispatchers and chiefs in my area. They're all people, like you and me, with concern for everyone's general wellbeing.

 

[GateXC]

I'm guessing it's more of a big-city phenomenon. Here in NYC cops walk their beats regularly and you always seem them around, being friendly with business owners, etc. We also get a good number of mounted police on a regular basis which I always found to be really cool. The city is actually in the process of increasing the mounted force by about 50% or so, which I heartily applaud.

 

[Fletch]

The mounted patrol is a great thing, but it's survived for only one, and not very pretty, reason – big-city crowd control. There's nothing better at getting into a seething mass of humanity than a horse. If the main purpose of horse patrols were to keep the peace in parks and on residential streets, they'd have been gone a long time ago.

The trend in policing these days is towards the military model - and that means not just training, but looks, voices, language and manner of interaction. Post-9/11, law enforcement has gotten a lot more reverence from the public, which means they don't have to be so friendly to it.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Here in Rockland *Small-Town-USA* Maine, we have a single cop who walks up and down Main Street all day long chalking tires (he is known, naturally enough, as "Walkie-Chalkie"), but we also have bicycle patrols thru the downtown area during the tourist season, so that the outa-staters will feel safe and protected from the shifty-eyed furtive locals who might be tempted to roll them for their travelers' checks.

Otherwise, patrols are done on an as-needed basis. When there was a lot of drug activity in my neighborhood we'd get a patrol car up and down my street twice a day, trying to spot suspicious looking characters with inconspicuous briefcases. But since people started complaining about property taxes and demanding budget cuts, that's all a thing of the past. The druggies, at least, took their act over to the next block.

 

[nulty]

I have a son who is a police officer in Annapolis. We've talked about this several times. He would rather be out on the street and enjoys it when he is. It's important to be able to run into contacts and different grapevines than he would see sitting in his car.

I have never been on good terms with Law enforcement. I do my best to stay away from them on all levels. These days though it's wise to have the mind set to be able to engage a cop as a human being although at times they seem quite the opposite...

 

[Diamondback]

Maybe I'm just lucky, but I'm on good terms with some of the guys in the local PD, to the point that a couple of 'em toss waves when they pass by.

Maybe it's that us late-night "regulars" at the local diner know and keep track of each other (their table's usually the opposite corner from mine), or the fact that I shoot alongside some of 'em at the range every so often, or being seen as "potential backup" due to my CCW license, or just small-town demographics at work... (What? You think I could actually be paid enough to willingly live in any major city for more than about three weeks at a time? Oh, hahaha, that's funny... WoohoohooHAHAA!!! ROFL)

That said, I have been noticing a trend for a number of years of a shift away from "peace officers" to "law enforcement", complete with SWAT-team mentalities all around. It's like "we got 'em, we might as well use 'em, so we can show that the budget's justified..."

Bear in mind, I have friends in the business, including one who was a Chief of Police out toward the coast. This is NOT an LEO-bash, just an analyst comparing "now" to "then" and extrapolating bureaucratic attitude from outcomes...

 

[Dan G]

The fuzz in Sandpoint are mostly jerks. Small town cops with a big city attitude. Some of them are pretty cool, but you don't get hassled by the nice ones.[huh]

 

[CanadaDoll]

I would definitely not mind seeing a few cops in my area, I work a block or so away from a Meth clinic, and I get some craaaaazzzzzzzzzy people around, I've been followed to my car once or twice by people either asking for money, or just screaming stuff , while I have self-defense training, it's kinda nerve wracking, just cause I know how to hurt someone, doesn't mean I want to live with the consequences of needing to use it.

And of course being a young-ish single girl, I certainly don't mind a man in uniform

 

[Matt Deckard]

I like the pic Feraud.

In LA the police are always seen as a group to avoid. In New York I see it differently.

I was in a car with a friend of mine when of course we became lost. In the back seat was a friend from New York. He was getting set to ask the officer in the car next to us for directions and we had to immediately stop him. This action was taken because the the ingrained fear that if we asked for directions, an interrogation and pulling over by the police might ensue.

I want the police to be seen as those who protect and serve, though I'm guessing with the setup here, it's harder to get to know those in uniform other than entities in cars whom give you tickets.

 

[Lady Day]

Ive seen equestrian police here in the citay, riding on Market street, no less.

I think cops are awesome. I work front desk at a hostel, a place where all types of people can, and do, show up. One crazy guest claimed a young man was doing something inappropriate in the tv lounge (totally 100% NOT TRUE) and this guy, who was loaded, called the cops.

The police came, listened to him, and his blubbering, and constant changing of the story, and were a split hair from taking him in. They looked at us behind the front desk and said if this drunk guy even says a word to you, we will come personally hand haul him to jail.

Its nice to feel you have that type of support when you are just doing your job and need some help. So yes, to me, cops are awesome.

LD

 

[Elaina]

I dislike police men. Period. I have an unnatural feal that causes shrinks to be called on me (probably something to do with once being in the wrong place at the wrong time and getting 26 stitches in the back of my head.) If I am forced in a situation where it can remotely be negative, it's all over but the crying (literally.) Makes seeing my sister and her husband (where he is a cop) and my Uncle (who was a cop) interesting. (For the record, I can deal with police women slightly better, it's not a total meltdown.)

Now, I do know the cops in my town I moved to in December. I know the 2 cops that patrol my neighboorhood on a first name basis, and other then the deer in a headlight look I give them for the first minute of conversation, and the 20 feet I keep between us, they are ok, for police officers, and I know a couple from the other town (I live on the border of Haltom City and Ft Worth. I walk across the street and I'm in the other town). One is nice enough (I too use the same shooting range he does), one I dislike immensely, and he swears I'm on crack.

Horse cops were common for me. But I just don't like cops, and I would be peftectly fine for them to remain faceless entities I never saw or dealt with.

 

[Bebop]

I think it's a big city thing. In San Francisco there are many cops on the beat. On horseback in Golden Gate Park and the beach, bikes, on foot. I even saw one today downtown walking arm in arm with what I take was his lady (not very pro, imo). I like seeing them around. I do alot of business at the main P.D. and they are so different when they are not in public. For the most part they are a bunch of great guys, trying to make a decent living and caring about what they do but when you get them in their own environment, there are way too many that just want to get to retierment and don't really want anything to do with 'walking the beat'. City hall has alot to do with it.

In Spokane, if I see a cop in any form, there must be something going down or they must be fund raising. They just don't come out unless they are called out to an emergency, including fundraising (City hall once again). Washington has nice gun laws and maybe that has something to do with why the public does not care or even want the cops walking around their neighborhoods. [huh] There is a plus to having cops on the beat and not having cops on the beat. Depends on where you live.

 

[Dan G]

Horse cops are pretty cool. They always seem a little more mellow. I gotta feel bad for bike cops though. That can't possibly be any fun.

 

[Chanfan]

The local constabulary

The Seattle horse police often stop under my office window, while one or two of their number go into the local coffee chain to get drinks. Sometimes the bike cops come and chat with them. While I know the mounted police are trained for, and kept around for crowd control, you can't dismiss the public relations / tourist benefit. After all, it's what they do about 99% of the time.

My boss is a former police officer, and I know a few folks who were police officers, so I have no problem with thinking of them as human. We have a couple of beat cops that I sometimes see walking through my building's parking garage. I have read that studies have shown police are more effective if they get out of the car and walk a beat, due to the increased interaction with the locals in their patrol area.

Still, in general, I do tend to think of the police as a nuisance - out to catch me speeding, jaywalking, or whatever - this despite intellectually knowing they do much more. It's like the quote from Barfly - "I don't hate cops. I just feel better when they're not around."

 

[rongoms]

I'm a former seattle bicylce officer. ( I left after the WTO riots.)

It's very difficult to do that job in a city that truly hates it's police department.

That being said, Most departments have abandoned the beat officer and have suffered for it.

when i was a bicycle officer in the Belltown area of seattle, i would be at as many community and business organization meeting as i could find to go to....it make a HUGE difference in your ability to do the right thing on the street.

Seattle has specific rules for Walking beat officers and some exemptions, such as being allowed to carry the traditional "Billy" stick. (and you'd better damn well know how to spin it, or you'll never hear the end of it.)

Ploice work, in many officer's minds, was sent down the wrong road 20 years ago when the concept of Community Policing was brought forward. officers are now sequestered in thier cars and rarely have time to do anythign but go from call to call. One of the best thigns about being a bike officer was being exempt from answering calls. we'd "make our own work" as most of the walking beat officers did, as well.

Mounted patrol? Well, God bless them, for they are the most fearsome tool in the anti-riot arsenal. Beyond that, they're a PR-tool. it's REALLY difficult tosneak up on a drug deal in a cobblestonee alley on a horse. (bicycles move like a black shadow, of course

American law enforcement is in a sad state, and i think it's largely driven by risk management that is scared to death of offending some special interest group or another while actually trying to do theirr job.

The bottom line is this, yes, there are cops out there who are on a power trip, but the VAST majority are truly trying to do the right thing for thier community in a VERY difficult environment, but when you're told every day at rool-call that you're not to ask about someone immigration status or some other crap like that.....it doesn't take long to develop the siege-mentaility that exists now.

 

[carebear]

Excellent post Ron!

I'm years out of my Crim. training but that's a good summation of "Community Policing", the idea of having cops mobile to answer calls for service from the citizenry. The idea was to provide efficiency and reduce the percieved corruption of a beat officer ruling over his little neighborhood fiefdom.

A smaller, less expensive, car-mobile force connected by radio was thought a better use of resources than blanketing an area with single man, largely immobile, foot patrols.

City design has worked against beat cops as well. Seattle, San Fran and NYC have very distinct small neighborhoods with high population density which means one beat cop can actually interact with a large number of people on foot and still be within supporting range of his neighboring officers.

LA and some of the urban sprawl cities don't have that luxury. They were built from the ground up for cars and without car squads are unpatrollable.

Put cops in cars and you distance them from the community they serve.

Rotate shifts and areas to increase the knowledge and adaptability of the officers and reduce the risk of corruption and no one feels a personal connection to "their" officer.

Instill a "law enforcement" rather than "public safety" mindset, coupled with an over-riding "officer safety at all costs" mentality and cops are taught to view all their fellow citizens as potential threats and their day to day work as "us vs. them".

The public contributes to this by buying into the idea of "leave it to the police" and "don't get involved" and accepting the patently false promise that, if we just let them run things, the authorities will "keep us safe".

That mindset leads to the kind of travesties as we are now seeing in Chicago.

 

[staggerwing]

I don't much care for 'em. Mind you, I'm 50 years old and while I don't exactly come from one of those cop families, my dad, father-in-law, cousin and for a time brother were all in LE. But, back in dad's day, there seemed to be alot more people that went into police work because they wanted to help people. Now, while I know there are exceptions, alot of cops seem to be schoolyard bullies who now carry guns. You're either one of them, or you're the enemy. Never could figure out why the show "Cops" is so popular. Just cops beating people up the few times I've run across it flipping through the channels.

 

[Pilgrim]

I was a Reserve Deputy for seven years and had the chance to work with some really good folks, although I did learn that it's easy to become jaded when you see the worst of people so much of the time.

I don't see the Police as opposition unless they act that way. I figure they have a job to do and unless I give them reason to do so, they won't bother me.

And the original post makes a good point - police departments around the country are re-learning the fact that officers walking the beat and on horseback have considerable public relations benefit. They are more approachable, appear more human, and (in the case of the mounted patrol) people generally like horses. Putting police on the beat and on horses is winning many friends.

The earlier note about mounted patrols being great for crowd control is also accurate. People generally don't want to mess with nearly a ton of horse.