Flint, Michigan, Experiment

The Flint, Michigan, foot patrol experiment is one of the first evaluation studies of a community policing program and also one of the first policing studies to include measures of citizen fear of crime. The three-year evaluation study assessed how foot patrol affected citizen perceptions, officer attitudes, and crime and disorder. Overall, the intervention had a beneficial impact on a number of indicators, suggesting that foot patrol could be an effective program for both community outreach and crime reduction. Foot patrol is frequently a component of community policing programs. Foot patrol officers are typically expected to do more than just use surveillance and presence to deter crime. Foot patrol inherently involves more direct police-citizen interaction than officers spending their shift responding to 911 calls in ...