The Patrol Officers Role in Crime Reduction

In 2006, the Dalton Police Department saw a dramatic decrease in the crime rate in our City.  Much of this can be attributed to the department's patrol officer.

The duties of the current law enforcement professional today is extensive.  No longer is an officer merely required to just ride around and answer calls they receive.  The Dalton Police Department now requires more of it's officers. 

In the past, officers would patrol his or her designated area or beat and responded to calls when dispatched.  Once at the scene of the call, they would take the initial report and then turn the case over to the Criminal Investigative Division. 

Now officers are doing more during the initial call and conducting many of their own investigations.  While the investigations will generally not be as involved as one done by the department's Investigative Division, a basic limited investigation by the patrol officer has led to many cases being solved before the detectives are involved. 

Officers are also much more aware of crimes in there area due to receiving accurate and timely reports from our crime analyst, Tonya Dial.  Ms. Dial uses reported data to plot crime within a sector and reports on any "hotspots" that are present.  Armed with this information, the officers can zero in on these areas with various techniques to reduce or eliminate crime within their sectors.

Officers have also increased their use of Field Interview Reports.  Officers are making contact with individuals walking or driving within their sector.  With this contact, the officer reports the person's name and circumstances for the contact.  These reports are forwarded to the Criminal Investigations Division (CID) for review.  If CID has a crime in a particular area, they now have information on who was in the area during the time of the incident.  This information can be very valuable in identifying possible suspects for the crime.

Through these and other innovative techniques, patrol officers will continue to target criminals and their actions to reduce crime in our City.