– The purpose of this paper is to evaluate a foot patrol and citizen contact-based policing intervention in a suburb outside Dallas. Funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance “Smart Policing” initiative, the intervention consisted of assigning a single bilingual officer to an economically disadvantaged apartment complex in the heart of the city.
– An examination of calls for service across several offense types was performed for the target complex, the adjacent neighborhood, and a nearby apartment complex. The aims of the study were to determine whether the intervention affected specific calls for service and geographic and/or temporal displacement/diffusion occurred.
– Two key findings emerged. First, the intervention produced several hypothesized reductions and increases in specific call types, but temporal displacement rendered those effects short-lived. Second, diffusion to surrounding areas was observed and persisted through various treatment dosages.
– The study provides useful information to practitioners who might seek to implement foot-patrol-based tactics in hot spots and micro-places. However, foot patrol and/or citizen contact patrol alone may not yield sustainable crime reductions in their target areas.
– Few recent studies have examined the efficacy of foot patrol in crime hot spots. No recent studies have evaluated citizen contact patrol within micro-places. This study sought to address both limitations.
