Table of Contents
| Preface | |
| Law Enforcement Code of Ethics | |
| Ch. 1 | Introduction to Patrol | 1 |
| Ch. 2 | Basic Field Procedures | 42 |
| Ch. 3 | Observation and Perception | 81 |
| Ch. 4 | Police Communications | 112 |
| Ch. 5 | Reporting and Records | 139 |
| Ch. 6 | Interviewing Techniques | 182 |
| Ch. 7 | Frequent Patrol Assignments | 211 |
| Ch. 8 | Crimes in Progress | 242 |
| Ch. 9 | Preliminary Investigations | 264 |
| Ch. 10 | Unusual Occurrences | 301 |
| Ch. 11 | Traffic Direction and Enforcement | 332 |
| Ch. 12 | Arrest, Search, and Custody | 373 |
| Ch. 13 | Stress Survival and the Use of Force | 399 |
| Ch. 14 | Community Policing and Problem Solving | 423 |
Forewords & Introductions
PREFACE:
PREFACE
As a peace officer it is your responsibility to preserve the peace and tranquility of your community and to protect the lives and property of the people who live in—and visit—that community. There are few individuals in society who have a more sacred trust than yours. There will be times when you will have to decide whether or not to arrest a suspected offender, and that decision will have a profound influence on many lives and reputations. In less than a second, you may have to decide whether or not to use deadly force, to take the life of someone you believe is presenting an immediate threat to your life or that of someone else. You will make wise decisions, and you will make mistakes as well. There will be times when you will have overwhelming support and other times when you will be all alone, with no one willing to give you moral or physical support. Because of these considerations, service as a peace officer is one of the most selfless and courageous career choices you could make.
Police Field Operations, has been developed over a period of several years from literally hundreds of sources. Training bulletins and course outlines from many police academies and college course offerings, thousands of hours in the classroom and in the field as a working police officer and supervisor, student, administrator, and college professor plus the input of colleagues throughout the world in the criminal justice professions have all been utilized to produce this text. It is my fervent hope that it serves you well and aids you in developing your own base of police knowledge that will enable you to become a true policeprofessional.I have learned a great deal from others; so shall you.
All the information and techniques presented in this book are the culmination of the collective wisdom and experience of my colleagues, both past and present, and represent the best that I could compile and put into this one volume. In the interest of space, we had to leave out many things that should have, or could have, been included. Space constrictions, however, demanded that we include what we considered most important for the well-rounded field police officer.
Once you have settled down into your field duties, you are going to develop a better way to handle some of these procedures, more suited to your own personal style. In the meantime, while you are finding those special ways of doing things your way, may I suggest that you try these. Then as you prove these methods are no longer suitable for your style, discard them. As we move into policing for the twenty-first century, we cannot stand still or we will stagnate.
Once in a while you will read or hear offhand remarks such as "we are going to teach you how police work should be, and not how it has been for many years"—obviously not spoken or written by someone who has been "in the trenches," so to speak. Although it is true that many procedures have changed and many new scientific instruments and techniques have been introduced in recent years, many of the old ones still work. Change just for the sake of change is fruitless; changes must be for improvement of the system. One of the temptations for the professor and the author who are no longer in the field is to change procedures in one's own special environment far removed from reality. I, too, have been tempted to present the ideal solution to many of our unsolved problems only to find that the problems continue to be unsolved despite my brilliant attempts to set the world right. What I aspire to do in this book is to present what I believe to be the best techniques in the real world of police work today.
Sources of information and ideas for this book number literally in the hundreds, but none of this material has been taken verbatim from any source. Most of the blame for errors and omissions must rest with me, and, perhaps, some of the credit. After more than 45 years in Criminal Justice, I have accumulated a lot of information, but the writing is original. Although some critics might note that the footnotes do not represent exhaustive years of research, I have been studying the material for dozens of years. This was not intended to be a survey of other writers' literature; rather, it is basically a book on how to best perform fundamental police procedures as perceived by yours truly.
To you, my fellow professionals, I present this material. I challenge you to improve upon it, even render it obsolete, if you must. If you have had access to previous editions of Police Field Operations, you will notice that the format of the Fifth Edition has been changed for the sake of continuity of instruction. We also added considerable material to the chapters on Community Policing and Stress Reduction as well as adding a few significant cases in the legal sections of the book. I sincerely hope that these changes will meet with your approval.
There are a few people to whom I owe a great deal of gratitude in putting these books together. First, I want to acknowledge the comments and suggestions received from my reviewers: James Kobolt, Lake Superior State University; Monte Clampett, A. B. Tech.; and Edward Maguire, University of Nebraska-Omaha. Second, many thanks to Kimberly Davies, Neil Marquardt, Robin Baliszewski, Adele Kupchik, and Rose Mary Florio of Prentice Hall. Thanks also to Lori Dalberg at Carlisle Publishers Service for making my writing look good. And special thanks to Maria Elizete Adams, who put up with me in marital bliss (?) since 1991. I could have never done it alone.
Tom Adams,
Santa Ana, California
Read an Excerpt
PREFACE:
PREFACE
As a peace officer it is your responsibility to preserve the peace and tranquility of your community and to protect the lives and property of the people who live in—and visit—that community. There are few individuals in society who have a more sacred trust than yours. There will be times when you will have to decide whether or not to arrest a suspected offender, and that decision will have a profound influence on many lives and reputations. In less than a second, you may have to decide whether or not to use deadly force, to take the life of someone you believe is presenting an immediate threat to your life or that of someone else. You will make wise decisions, and you will make mistakes as well. There will be times when you will have overwhelming support and other times when you will be all alone, with no one willing to give you moral or physical support. Because of these considerations, service as a peace officer is one of the most selfless and courageous career choices you could make.
Police Field Operations, has been developed over a period of several years from literally hundreds of sources. Training bulletins and course outlines from many police academies and college course offerings, thousands of hours in the classroom and in the field as a working police officer and supervisor, student, administrator, and college professor plus the input of colleagues throughout the world in the criminal justice professions have all been utilized to produce this text. It is my fervent hope that it serves you well and aids you in developing your own base of police knowledge that will enable you to become a true police professional.I have learned a great deal from others; so shall you.
All the information and techniques presented in this book are the culmination of the collective wisdom and experience of my colleagues, both past and present, and represent the best that I could compile and put into this one volume. In the interest of space, we had to leave out many things that should have, or could have, been included. Space constrictions, however, demanded that we include what we considered most important for the well-rounded field police officer.
Once you have settled down into your field duties, you are going to develop a better way to handle some of these procedures, more suited to your own personal style. In the meantime, while you are finding those special ways of doing things your way, may I suggest that you try these. Then as you prove these methods are no longer suitable for your style, discard them. As we move into policing for the twenty-first century, we cannot stand still or we will stagnate.
Once in a while you will read or hear offhand remarks such as "we are going to teach you how police work should be, and not how it has been for many years"—obviously not spoken or written by someone who has been "in the trenches," so to speak. Although it is true that many procedures have changed and many new scientific instruments and techniques have been introduced in recent years, many of the old ones still work. Change just for the sake of change is fruitless; changes must be for improvement of the system. One of the temptations for the professor and the author who are no longer in the field is to change procedures in one's own special environment far removed from reality. I, too, have been tempted to present the ideal solution to many of our unsolved problems only to find that the problems continue to be unsolved despite my brilliant attempts to set the world right. What I aspire to do in this book is to present what I believe to be the best techniques in the real world of police work today.
Sources of information and ideas for this book number literally in the hundreds, but none of this material has been taken verbatim from any source. Most of the blame for errors and omissions must rest with me, and, perhaps, some of the credit. After more than 45 years in Criminal Justice, I have accumulated a lot of information, but the writing is original. Although some critics might note that the footnotes do not represent exhaustive years of research, I have been studying the material for dozens of years. This was not intended to be a survey of other writers' literature; rather, it is basically a book on how to best perform fundamental police procedures as perceived by yours truly.
To you, my fellow professionals, I present this material. I challenge you to improve upon it, even render it obsolete, if you must. If you have had access to previous editions of Police Field Operations, you will notice that the format of the Fifth Edition has been changed for the sake of continuity of instruction. We also added considerable material to the chapters on Community Policing and Stress Reduction as well as adding a few significant cases in the legal sections of the book. I sincerely hope that these changes will meet with your approval.
There are a few people to whom I owe a great deal of gratitude in putting these books together. First, I want to acknowledge the comments and suggestions received from my reviewers: James Kobolt, Lake Superior State University; Monte Clampett, A. B. Tech.; and Edward Maguire, University of Nebraska-Omaha. Second, many thanks to Kimberly Davies, Neil Marquardt, Robin Baliszewski, Adele Kupchik, and Rose Mary Florio of Prentice Hall. Thanks also to Lori Dalberg at Carlisle Publishers Service for making my writing look good. And special thanks to Maria Elizete Adams, who put up with me in marital bliss (?) since 1991. I could have never done it alone.
Tom Adams,
Santa Ana, California
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