By Admin, July 25 2025
“Winning The Day”
It was a solemn 83 degrees, yet very manageable with a light breeze. Officer Grant steadily cruised through a south King County business park, surveying the scene and ensuring local businesses and visitors that a response unit was within arm’s reach. I was fortunate enough to gain a firsthand account during a ride-along with an experienced patrol officer. “I would literally tell anyone who wants to get into this field that it is very rewarding,” Grant stated. In steady movements, Grant parked the patrol vehicle outside a local restaurant momentarily. “I can help someone just by talking to them, making their day, and seeing a smile on the client’s face, or their customer’s face. If I can put a smile on their face, it’s all worth it.” I remained in the patrol vehicle, as I was in plain clothes and Grant was fully uniformed. Our discourse revealed that Officer Grant was not only walking into the establishment to build rapport, but as an addendum to general professionalism, he enjoys his line of work.
Today’s patrol officer serves as the cornerstone of community safety, functioning as both a protector and community liaison in an increasingly complex role. These professionals spend their time conducting routine patrols, investigating incidents, and writing detailed reports, often responding to calls ranging from minor disturbances to life-threatening emergencies, all while maintaining a visible presence that deters crime and reassures the general public.
Truth Through Numbers
In recent domestic reports, the presence of law enforcement or a security patrol vehicle yields statistical efficacy in crime reduction within their designated areas (Weisburd et al., 2024). A key example of this phenomenon was cited by Tennessee State University, referencing an on-campus reduction of overall crime by 35% within the 2024-2025 school year (Clark, 2025). The implementation and funding of patrol units demonstrably affected campus safety statistics and community interaction according to TSU Police Chief Gregory Robinson (Ibid). “Our students engage with officers when there’s a uniform presence” (Ibid).
Academic Validation: Research Supports Real-World Results
The effectiveness of targeted patrol strategies extends beyond individual campus success stories to encompass broader geographical areas. In a comprehensive 2024 meta-analysis, preventive patrol strategies that were examined found that increasing patrol presence in large geographic areas can indeed reduce crime when properly targeted and strategically deployed (Weisburd et al., 2024). This systematic review provides a high degree of academic validation for anecdotal success stories, thereby giving credence to press releases from campuses and cities across the country.
However, this precedent isn’t constrained to the continental United States. In a study compiled by the International Security Ligue, key findings indicate that “road patrols” in marked security vehicles produced significant decreases in crime in both the pre- and post-implementation periods (Holmes et al., 2022). Notably, a cooperative approach between public police and civilian private security can be a “force multiplier” in the provision of community security and the prevention of crime (Ibid).
During my ride-along with Officer Grant, I kept these statistics in the back of my mind as we responded to dispatched calls or handed out water bottles on a warm summer evening. Toward the end of the shift, Grant parked the patrol vehicle in the shade of the tree line, adjacent to an apartment complex. This moment of peace gave me the opportunity to ask him any question in the world. A man fully in tune with his profession, I had the burning curiosity to know if he was aware of how meaningful his line of work truly is.
Ground Truth: When Research Meets Reality
While nursing a bottle of water, I quoted a statistic from the International Security Ligue: “In this study, it stated that security patrols resulted in violent crime being reduced by 60%. How viable is that? Have you seen a reduction?” Although I knew those statistics did not pertain to our region, I wanted to know if the underlying principle held any validity through Grant’s experience.
“I would say yes and no, because as security we are reducing crime. I would say maybe 45% to 50% because there’s a lot of things that we don’t see. Yeah, about 50%.”
His response intrigued me. Even across different US states and countries in Europe, his estimates were in ballpark proximity to reported statistics. This led me to inquire about more statistics, notably a 55% reduction in property crime and a 46% reduction in street crime. Grant’s response was casual: “Yeah, I would agree with that.”
I asked Grant, “Have you been able to observe that? Have you been able to see this level of change?”
“I have seen that change. Usually when I arrive at one of my clients’ properties and somebody’s trying to do something dirty, when they see me, they leave. Or when they see any of our officers or patrol cars arrive, they leave. Okay, that was a deterrent. That means we did our job. Just like that call we had today. They told them [the offender] that they called us. Even though we weren’t there yet, the deterrent was there. They knew that we were on our way, and they know most of the time that we don’t take too long. I think it took us less than 10 minutes to get there.”
Grant’s opinion and expertise was able to shed light on, and bring contextual reality to reports published online. Plain-text on webpages, translated into people, places, and communities where people lived. Our discussion converged on several different topics, covering memorable experiences, high-liability situations, scenarios and life lessons. A level of discourse, that only lived-experiences could achieve. My time with Patrol Officer Grant was nothing less than eye-opening, insightful, and informative. In our discussions, I think we both were able to take something meaningful away from the exchange—he gained an opportunity to reflect on the broader impact of his daily work, while I discovered the profound humanity that exists within the badge and uniform. Ironically, his first words to me at the beginning of the patrol were about how rewarding his job was. As it turns out, through lived experiences, peer-reviewed publications, and interactions with local residents, it is more rewarding than either of us knew—it represents an intrinsic community impact.
References
Clark, A. (2025, July 15). TSU Continues to Invest in Campus Safety, Enhances Crime Prevention Strategy. Tennessee State University Newsroom. https://tnstatenewsroom.com/tsu-continues-to-invest-in-campus-safety-enhances-crime-prevention-strategy/
Holmes, S. T., Wolf, R., & Baker, T. (2022). Public-Private Partnerships: Exploring Perceptions and Efficacy of Community Security Patrols. Journal of Applied Security Research, 18(4), 718–739. https://doi.org/10.1080/19361610.2022.2086782
International Security Ligue. “Does Private Security Do Public Good? A Look at What Science Says.” International Security Ligue. Last modified November 21, 2024. https://www.international-security-ligue.org/post/does-private-security-do-public-good-a-look-at-what-science-says.
Weisburd, D., Peterson, K., Telep, C., & Fay, S. (2024, April 4). Can increasing preventive patrol in large geographic areas reduce crime? A systematic review and meta-analysis. Wiley Online Library | Criminology & Public Policy. Retrieved July 25, 2025, from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1745-9133.12665
