D.C. Police Heeding Calls for Foot Patrols

By Allison Klein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 16, 2007

D.C. police officer Alfred Tyler bundled himself in a coat, wool hat and gloves and began making his rounds at a bustling shopping center in the Benning Road area east of the Anacostia River.

On a chilly afternoon last week, Tyler walked from one business to the next, talking to merchants and their customers. "Who is closing the store tonight?" he asked the manager at a clothing shop on Minnesota Avenue NE.

Stopping at a bank that had been robbed recently, Tyler made sure everything was all right. "Everything quiet in here?" he asked.

While most officers were driving from call to call in their squad cars, Tyler was hoofing it on an old-school assignment: the foot beat. Residents across the city have been clamoring for more foot patrols, and they're about to get them.

The new mayor, Adrian M. Fenty (D), and the acting police chief, Cathy L. Lanier, view foot patrols as a critical part of their community-policing strategy -- a way to help police connect with the public at parks and business strips and on busy city blocks.

"Foot beats are a good way for officers to interact and make people feel safe," said Lanier, who began her police career 16 years ago walking a beat in Northeast Washington.

Some criminal justice specialists agreed that foot patrols are good for community relations. But they said research has shown that the tactic does little to cut crime.

"People feel more confident when there are officers around," said John E. Eck, a professor of criminal justice at the University of Cincinnati, who studies community policing. "The evidence it actually reduces crime is slim to none."

Still, Eck said, when coupled strategically with other tactics, foot patrols can be an effective tool for police. They can change perceptions, he said.

The most highly regarded study of foot patrols concluded that in Newark, walking officers brightened residents' attitudes about crime and lifted satisfaction in police services. However, the foot beats had "no effect on recorded crime rates," according to the study, published by the Police Foundation about 25 years ago.

"The public loves them," said Wesley G. Skogan, a political science professor at Northwestern University who studies policing issues. "Hard-nosed police administrators see them of limited utility."

Officers have walked beats for as long as police departments have existed. But over the years, a dependence on patrol cars has changed the way police interact with citizens. Police can cover much more territory on wheels, but that often comes at the expense of getting to know the people they serve. Some say that the loss of that personal connection has contributed to a general mistrust and wariness of police.

In recent years, foot patrols have made a comeback across the country as residents have demanded back-to-basics policing in cities such as Washington, New Orleans, Pittsburgh and Camden, N.J. In San Francisco, however, a dispute over community policing remains unresolved after the department confronted politicians, saying mandating foot patrols would cause response times to rise significantly.

Lanier said foot patrols fit her mission to reduce crime as well as the fear of crime. "They don't work everywhere," she said. "The commanders know exactly where a foot beat will work and where it won't."

Some patrol commanders have instructed officers to walk through neighborhoods and shopping areas and speak to as many as 20 people during a shift. Besides dealing with crime, the officers are supposed to contact other city agencies to remedy problems such as burned-out streetlights, overgrown bushes and abandoned buildings that have become eyesores.

Some officers have expressed concern that relying more heavily on foot beats will reduce the ground they can cover. When emergencies arise, they said, they will not be able to get to trouble areas as fast as they could in their cars.

Officer Kristopher Baumann, chairman of the D.C. police union, said he has talked to many officers who are excited to walk a beat and "make a difference." He said it will be important to keep the same officers on the same beats for a while and give them easy access to a cars if they need to respond to a call.

"When done right, it's great," Baumann said. "You just can't do it in a vacuum. We need to make sure all our officers have patrol cars."

The city plans to add 100 officers to the 3,800-member department, and Lanier, who is awaiting D.C. Council confirmation, has said that bolstering patrols will be a priority.

Under Charles H. Ramsey, who stepped down as police chief last month, officers were assigned to foot beats in some congested areas such as Adams Morgan and Chinatown. From time to time, after high-profile killings or robberies, officers were temporarily assigned to walk in neighborhoods as a way to reassure residents.

Lanier has asked her district commanders to come up with individual policing plans -- including foot patrols -- to best address crime in their sections of the city. Police and residents are supposed to meet in coming weeks to exchange ideas.

As an example of what she envisions, Lanier pointed to the 1st District, which covers a swath including Capitol Hill and the area near RFK Stadium. Cmdr. Diane Groomes increased foot officers in the up-and-coming H Street NE corridor, which has sprouted nightclubs, coffee shops and an arts scene.

Groomes added an extra foot officer in the spring and -- contrary to the research in Newark and elsewhere -- saw robberies and open-air drug dealing fall significantly. "The effects were amazing," Groomes said.

Groomes has since told administrative officers who work behind desks to get out and walk a beat for at least an hour a day.

In the 3rd District, north of the city's center, Cmdr. Larry McCoy has begun an adopt-a-block program, in which each officer will be responsible for one city block or park. Not every block will be covered by an officer, but McCoy said he will make sure officers are assigned to strategic blocks.

The program generated a buzz immediately, with residents posting a flurry of messages on electronic lists lauding the idea and wanting officers to adopt their blocks.

Lanier emphasized that although foot patrols are a hallmark of the approach to policing that she and Fenty are designing, they are not the only component of the strategy.

"I have to make sure we maintain a balance of solving crimes," Lanier said. "We still have to go after drug deals and auto theft and other crimes. But in the meantime, we're improving our relationship with the community, and we're being responsive."

Last week, during an afternoon shift, Lanier counted 57 officers walking beats across the city. She said that she wants to increase that number but that she cannot be more specific until she tries new tactics and evaluates what works. "I don't want to set a goal until I do some trial and error," she said.

In the 6th District, Tyler constantly checks businesses and homes in his five-block beat, and he appears to be well liked.

Officers on foot patrol, Tyler said, generally make one or two arrests a week; officers in cars tend to make more. But he sees himself as preventing crime, and he enjoys the rapport he has developed with the community over the past four years.

Sheila Reed, manager of a Wachovia bank on Minnesota Avenue, said she feels safer knowing that he is around. "He keeps a close eye on us," Reed said. "It's comforting to know he's here, and when he's not around, I know where to find him."