Policing methods. Foot-beats

The basic system of beats evolved in the early years of the nineteenth century survived unchallenged for over a hundred years. There were two main classes of beat systems, a shift system providing 24-hour cover in towns and one man providing a 24-hour police presence by living on his rural beat in country areas.

The size of the beat was determined by the nature of the area up to a maximum size which was such that the police constable could walk around it at a regulation pace of two-and-a-half miles an hour, during the eight-hour tour of duty. In vulnerable areas like shopping centers, the beats would be small in area, to enable the constable to pass along each street several times during his tour of duty. In residential areas, the beats would be longer so that the constable might pass along each street perhaps once or, more often, twice in each shift.

The basic town-beat system had one big advantage: it was very predictable. It was not at all difficult to work out when a police constable would be walking along a given street and how long it would be before he returned. One partial solution to this was to use a schedule of four different starting points, routes and refreshment times. On parade at the beginning of each shift, the sergeant or inspector would tell the constables the schedule for the day.

Because of the predictability of police beats and the need to provide extra cover in vulnerable streets, more complex systems were evolved. Most of them consisted of similar elements although the names of each function varied from force to force.

1. Foot-beats. Areas to be patrolled along set routes from a given starting point to a given finishing point.

2. Beat patrols. These were fixed routes that criss-crossed two or more beats and gave additional cover to the more vulnerable streets.

3. Patrols. Often just one street or part of one street, or perhaps a busy junction that needed a constant police presence.

The times of parade of some of the beat patrols and patrols would often be one hour later than the beats, to provide cover during the change-over of shifts.

Local variations on these themes included different arrangement for supervision. In some forces, it was the practice to have "points" — places at which a constable should be at a given time so that lie could be met by his sergeant or inspector. These points were often at public telephone-boxes where a constable could be contacted.

Дата добавления: 2015-07-11