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Kansas City Gun Experiment Essay

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Midterm Exam
Lisa Lippincott
Excelsior College

The Kansas City Gun Experiment in 1992 - 1993 used intensive police patrols directed to an 80-block hotspot area where the homicide rate was 20 times the national average. It represented a unique approach to crime prevention through preventive patrol.
Question 1
Is this approach different from traditional patrol? If so how? If not, how is it similar? What did patrol officers in this experiment do that was different from what basic patrol officers do? What was the relationship between the officers in this experiment and other patrol officers? The Kansas City Gun Experiment was a police patrol project that aimed at reducing gun violence, drive-by shootings, and homicides. The …show more content…

Police departments use a variety of methods for assigning patrol officers to particular shifts and patrol areas. I believe that proactive, problem solving; preventative policing is something that must be utilized daily by patrol officers. I also feel that adding extra patrols on a random basis, to concentrate on specific crime issues may be a good plan to help in deterring crime. Anything when done with an element of surprise (such as directed patrol) would be a positive way to deter crime. Over the long haul, I believe that if this experiment continued to stay the same, it would only prove to increase serious crimes during the times during the day when patrols were not increased. In addition, I do not see how any police department could possibly budget the increased patrol officers into their budget without outside funding to pay for the additional hours/overtime hours, and extra labor needed to run a department in this manner. I do believe that elements of what was learned by doing this experiment need to be incorporated into the way patrol is done on a day-to-day basis to improve the effectiveness of patrolling with the amount of labor and budget issues that is available. I completely agree policing needs to be proactive, but I also believe utilizing educational programs in the public. Contact of the public and involvement in the community is a vital part of reducing crime. Just having a police

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