Question about police officer job?

Question

I'm just curious. Are police officers assigned certain streets in there town; to drive on an watch drivers? Or they allowed to drive and watch drivers on any street in there town?

Answer 1

It really depends on the State, County, and or Municipality. I can tell you that in my municipality we are not assigned an area. We know which spots to go to, and at what times the most violators are there.

Answer 2

I'm pretty sure they are assigned to areas but not neccesarily limited to it. I know someone who got into with the law and it was the same police officer that arrested him almost everytime.

Answer 3

It really depends upon the agency and/or size of the area patrolled. As far as State Police or Highway Patrol is concerned, patrol areas are very large (sometimes many counties). County police usually split their county up into zones and assign a platoon to each zone. Sometimes it's always the same officers, sometimes they rotate officers due to crime levels or the certain type of crime occurring in any given area. In large cities it's basically the same thing. They have precincts and yes, sometimes they are assigned certain streets to watch. In a small town I'm sure they will sit and watch things or drive around in an area that usually has the most 911 calls. They will patrol "speed traps"- areas where people seem to speed the most.