Midterm Exam
Lisa Lippincott
Excelsior College

The Kansas City Gun Experiment in 1992 - 1993 used intensive police patrols directed to an 80-block hotspot area where the homicide rate was 20 times the national average. It represented a unique approach to crime prevention through preventive patrol.
Question 1
Is this approach different from traditional patrol? If so how? If not, how is it similar? What did patrol officers in this experiment do that was different from what basic patrol officers do? What was the relationship between the officers in this experiment and other patrol officers? The Kansas City Gun Experiment was a police patrol project that aimed at reducing gun violence, drive-by shootings, and homicides. The purpose of the experiment was to focus on gun crime “hot spots” through problem-solving policing and directed patrol in high-crime areas. The overall goal was to prove that this style of policing would reduce crime by removing guns from the streets and deterrence through aggressive enforcement (Walker & Katz, 2006, p 295) Routine traditional patrol maintained in five beats, which included marked police cars, rapid response to calls, arrests and follow-up investigations. The final five beats involved in the experiment used a proactive patrol approach, increasing patrol to twice the norm. The extra officers worked from 7:00 pm to 1:00 am, seven days/week during the hours when the most gun-related crimes occur. Police officers assigned to the experimental area were those who had been patrolling it prior to the experiment, tended to be white, relatively young, and somewhat new to the police department. These officers focused solely on gun detection on target directed vehicles and did not answer service calls (George L. Kelling, 1974).
Question 2
This experiment was a one-time special project. Could this approach be integrated into a