A REVIEW OF RELEVANT LITERATURE IN SUPPORT OF AN INVESTIGATION OF THE IMPACT OF POLICE FOOT PATROLS ON CRIME REDUCTION IN OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA
This study investigates the impact of police foot patrols on crime reduction in the Oakland (California) central business district over the period 1990-1998. Literature relevant to the investigation of this problem is reviewed in this chapter. Information and data specific to the foot patrol program in Oakland and its impact on the incidence of crime are not reported or reviewed in this chapter. Such information and data are reported and analyzed in Chapter IV of this study.
Policing: Historical Background & Development
The use of personnel especially designated to enforce laws and maintain orderùpoliceùis a relatively recent phenomenon. In medieval England, as an example, an agent of the crown called the reeve (the forerunner of the sheriff) primarily served warrants and collected taxes. Law and order was enforced by ordinary citizens, who responded when the hue and cry was raised by a victim or witness (Olmos, 1994).
As many ordinary citizens would not respond to the hue and cry, many persons of means hired third parties to act as watch and ward over their property and personal safety. The modern field of policing evolved from this watch and ward practice. The establishment of a hired police force tended to separate law enforcers from the ordinary citizen, and the adoption of a military model by the vast majority of tax supported police forces further widened the gulf between the uniformed officer and the ordinary citizen (Olmos, 1994). In the contemporary United States, the concentration of ethnic and racial population groups in specific locations within urban areas, the increased incidence of crime within neighborhoods of high ethnic and racial concentration (for whatever reason), and the tendency for police forces to be composed predominantly of individuals drawn from t...