Officer proactivity: A comparison between police field training officers and non-field training officers

This article examines the behavioral differences between police field training officers (FTOs) and non-FTOs in problem-focused efforts and aggressive preventive patrol. The former refers to officer-initiated security checks and attempts to locate citizens, while the latter includes officer-initiated field interrogations and traffic stops. Data used were collected from Indianapolis, Indiana and St. Petersburg, Florida during the summers of 1996 and 1997. Findings show that FTOs, especially those in St. Petersburg, are more proactive than non-FTOs in attempting to locate suspects and witnesses, but they do not differ in the level of proactivity with respect to security checks, field interrogations, and traffic stops. Implications for future research and policy are discussed.