The Philadelphia Foot Patrol Experiment
Identify the purpose of the research study, problem, and questions. * The purpose of this research was to determine if police foot patrols can improve community perception of the police and reduce fear of crime and prevent actual crime
Describe the design of the study. * In Philadelphia, their resources consisted of 60 patrol locations; researchers identified the highest violent crime corners in the city, using data from 2006 to 2008. Police commanders designed 120 foot patrol areas around these corners, and stratified randomization was used to assign pairs of foot patrols with similar crime rates as either a comparison or a target area. * Officers generally patrolled in pairs with two pairs assigned to each foot patrol. They worked from Tuesday morning to Saturday night in two shifts (10am to 6pm, 6pm to 2am).
Identify an operational definition used by the researchers. * An operational definition used by researchers is describing a foot patrol as a police officer working on foot throughout their beat or assigned area rather than utilizing a vehicle.
Provide one example of inductive logic and one example of deductive logic presented in the results. * An example of inductive reasoning is foot patrol beats returned to their pre-experiment crime levels once the foot patrol experiment was concluded. Foot patrol is more likely to conduct pedestrian stops and deal with disorder and drug offenses while car patrol handled the vast majority of reported crime incidents is an example of deductive reasoning.
Identify whether the research study is a quantitative or qualitative design. Explain your answer. * The research was qualitative design. The research conducted was analyzed and focused on the results it produced and the quality of the policing done on foot compared to vehicles. The focus was on whether the foot patrol affected crime statistics and community perception of police.
Identify the methodology, population, sampling methods, and return rate, if applicable. * After three months, relative to the comparison areas, violent crime decreased 23%. Official records of police activities during the intervention period showed drug‐related incident detections increased 15%, pedestrian stops increased 64%, vehicle stops increased 7% arrests increased 13%.
What were the findings of the study? * Results showed that beats that were in place beyond three months had diminishing effects during the experiment, an effect not seen with the shorter term beats. Foot patrol beats returned to their pre-experiment crime levels once the foot patrol experiment was concluded. *
Describe the author’s conclusions and recommendations.
In your opinion, could the study have been done differently or improved? Detail your response.
The author’s conclusions were that the experiment a decrease in crime and an increase in police contacts with pedestrians. The community’s perception of police also improved. The author determined that the foot patrol experiment areas ultimately returned to normal and recognized that integrating foot patrol with longer-term strategies would be a better strategy. I believe this study was done well thanks to the cooperation of the Philadelphia Police department and I would not have done anything differntly.
