The Beat System
| Published date | 01 January 1952 |
| Date | 01 January 1952 |
| Author | Joseph Pessell |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X5202500109 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
The
Beat System
By
DETECTIVE-INSPECTOR
JOSEPH
PESSELL
Exeter
City
Police
THE old-established practice of employing watchmen and charging
them with the duty of routine patrolling was seized upon by the
" New
Police"
as the most effective way of combating crime.
The
advantages of the practice were manifest.
Urban
areas were
compact and criminals of insu'ar habits lived conveniently in disreput-
able colonies. Mechanical means of communication were unknown and,
consequently, the only ways of enlisting the services of a policeman
were either to
run
to the nearest police station or to find the policeman
on his beat.
Under
such conditions the more policemen there were
engaged in routine patrols the more efficient was the police service.
It
was a case of carrying the goods to the potential customer.
The
development of mechanical transport encouraged criminals as
well as others to abandon their stay-at-home habits and police sur-
veillance became more difficult as a result.
The
introduction of the
telephone and the encouragement given to the public to enlist its aid
when a policeman was required, altered the whole relationship of the
beat constable to the public. Instead of him being first at the scene
of an emergency, he is usually a poor second, even supposing he arrives
at all.
The
general scope of police responsibility has increased enormously.
The
proportion of strength engaged on specialised duties is continually
rising. Slum clearance has dispersed criminals from their old haunts
and the development of vast new housing estates has given the police
enormously increased acreages to patrol at a time when less men are
available for routine patrol duties.
Whilst some of the specialists, in particular the mobile sections,
are superimposed on the beat system, many others have little more
than anominal responsibility in the war against crime.
The
size
of the areas to patrol and the inevitable use of more specialists have not
been counterbalanced by the increases in establishment which have
occurred in most police areas.
The
men engaged on patrol duties have to contend with urgent
traffic and other problems. Aproportion of these men are concentrated
where traffic congestion is at its worst, normally in the main streets.
This
contingency has resulted in even fewer men being available for
suburban patrol.
To
employ an adequate
number
of beat patrols under modern
conditions would be impracticable on grounds of cost alone. Even the
most ardent supporters of mobile patrols will hardly assert that the
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