The impact of single and two-officer patrols on catching burglars in the act

This study is concerned with determining the relative success of single and two-officer patrols in catching burglars red-handed. It is based on a six- month study of 'in progress' burglary, funded by the UK Home Office's Polic ing and Crime Reducing Unit, using questionnaire surveys of patrol officers , burglary site surveys and police records. Although two-officer patrols ap peared to be better at catching burglars, this reflected burglary character istics, their circumstances prior to responding, and the fact that many use d rapid response, 'zulu' cars, as much as the intrinsic advantages of havin g two officers instead of a single officer. Two-officer patrols' speed adva ntage operated only at distances from the burglary scene from which few pat rols managed to reach the scene first or catch many burglars.