Police Saturation Abates Crime

Communities throughout the country are plagued by crime encompassing serious and problematic issues resulting in various forms of criminal victimization. Law enforcement agencies ponder various strategies and continuously develop different approaches to deal with the variety of crime that impact their jurisdictions. The successful models have demonstrated a proactive approach in their policing and community outreach efforts and have the support of the police chiefs in their respective agencies. Police Saturation Teams (SATS) or similar prototypes have proven successful in jurisdictions that employ them. "Police use saturation patrols in response to chronic crime problems in a neighborhood. The challenge is sustaining the short term goals achieved with substantial involvement of local police and engagement of the community," says Chuck Wexler, the Executive Director of the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF). "The goal is to prevent and deter through visibility - creating the appearance of an omni-presence - but, also, to ease fear and increase apprehensions of those who do commit crime in the target area," says Chief Cathy Lanier of the Washington D. C. Metropolitan Police Department.

SAT teams have been in operation in Las Vegas, Nevada since 2004. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) developed these teams because crime was getting out of hand in the city, and officers were inundated with calls for service. Officers are able to mobilize and enter an area and where they identify the main players in crime and remain there to interrupt and disrupt their criminal operations. They utilize any laws they can including traffic violations, abandoned cars, broken windows, drinking in public, and other offenses, to disrupt the pattern of crime. The teams develop an infrastructure that can be in place to assist the community when the officers leave the area.

Rather than utilizing senior officers, LVMPD utilizes junior officers who average 1.5 years on the force. These officers are extremely eager, bright, and fearless in willing to get in the face of criminals. They work 10-hour days, non-stop. They are knowledgeable about the laws they can utilize, and they work without complaint. Typically, officers work on a SAT for one year. "I'd love to have them for two years," says Lt. Chris Hoye who is in charge of the SAT teams. He acknowledges that these officers focus on making the job for regular patrol officers easier.

One SAT encompasses the Homeland Security Team that includes dignitary protection and the critical infrastructure which encompasses the downtown strip of Las Vegas, major tourist areas, and the airport. The officers on these teams inundate these areas. Smaller teams consist of two mobile crime SAT teams comprised of 16 officers on each team.

The officers comprising these teams appear in neighborhoods in large numbers, in uniform, and on foot. They work with residents and will tell people they are with Metro police and explain they are in the neighborhood to keep people safe. They develop rapport and gain the trust of residents who provide them intelligence enabling them to pursue the criminal element in the community. They have been successful in breaking up drug and white slavery rings, apprehending murder suspects, and those involved in kidnappings and home invasions. They have dealt with the entire gamut of crime, and the SATS have adopted their tactics to the sophisticated methods that criminals employ.