Glenn Duncan

As crime can be displaced through effective, targeted initiatives by law enforcement, police departments such as Washington, D.C.'s Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) may need to continuously adjust their patrol zone alignment to ensure that an equitable distribution of crime/calls for service demand, between each of the individual patrol zones (known as PSAs), is maintained. This research explores a methodological approach to patrol zone realignment that creates patrol zone boundaries around localized hotspots of demographic characteristics identified as being crime correlates. This research identifies an inequitable distribution of raw and weighted calls for service demand within the MPD's 2005 PSA alignment, suggesting that the MPD should consider a realignment of the current configuration. The new alignment, created through the methodology discussed within the context of this research, does not create an alignment that is more equitable in terms of the distribution of raw and weighted calls for service demand. This outcome suggests that the MPD should consider a comprehensive redistricting of the existing district station boundaries and PSAs. Furthermore, the MPD, while possibly incorporating components of the methodology presented, should consider alternate approaches to patrol zone realignment.