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THE REASSURANCE FACTOR IN POLICE PATROL
Author(s) -
BAHN CHARLES
Publication year - 1974
Publication title -
criminology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.467
H-Index - 139
eISSN - 1745-9125
pISSN - 0011-1384
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-9125.1974.tb00640.x
Subject(s) - milgram experiment , officer , feeling , visibility , centrality , function (biology) , psychology , social psychology , criminology , computer security , political science , computer science , geography , law , mathematics , combinatorics , evolutionary biology , meteorology , obedience , biology
In addition to its more obvious functions, police patrol also has the function of citizen reassurance‐providing feelings of safety that a citizen experiences when he knows that a police officer or patrol car is nearby. Since this function is highly related to both visibility and awareness, it is svggested that in locations of both cognitive centrality and high density, fixed posts be established that would both serve the reassurance function and provide another communication link between the police and the public. Recent studies by Milgram. Sommer, Hall, and Lynch have all contributed to our understanding of what Milgram calls “the congnitive map of the city,” and this concept can be utilized in the pursuit of safety .