What were the results of the Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experiment?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

The Kansas City Preventive Patrol Experiment, tested the effectiveness of this dominant police strategy. Researchers divided 15 beats into three groups matched for similar crime rates and demographic characteristics. For one year, the police applied three patrol strategies to each group. In the control group, they applied traditional preventive patrol; one car drove through the streets whenever it was not answering calls. In group 2, proactive patrol, they greatly increased patrol activity; cars drove through the beats two to three times more often than in the control group. In group 3, reactive patrol, they eliminated preventive patrol entirely; a patrol car stayed at the station until someone called for assistance.
Before and after the experiment, interviewers asked businesspeople and neighborhood residents about whether they had been crime victims, their opinion of the quality of law enforcement, and their fear of crime. To the surprise of many, no matter what the strategy:
•Crime rates stayed the same.
•Rates of reporting crime to the police remained constant.
•People's fear of crime stayed the same.
•Opinions about the effectiveness of police services did not change.
Respect for the police increased in the control beats (traditional preventive patrol).