How officers spend their time with the community

Using data from field observation of police patrol officers at work in two American cities, we explore similarities and differences between the tasks undertaken by generalist patrol officers and community policing specialists. As expected, community policing specialists are much more able to choose the work they do and the people they encounter. Specialists use their discretion to spend less “face time” with the public and more time “behind the scenes” than do patrol generalists, and to engage a higher-status and less problem-ridden clientele. Implications for adoption of community policing are discussed.