Beats are used to effectively divide available officers across a law enforcement agency's jurisdiction, ensuring organized police presence across a wide area.
Officers are expected to be familiar with vulnerable premises or locations of interest within their beat, such as major businesses and government facilities, landmarks, infrastructure, places to get food, locations of recent crimes, areas frequented by criminals, and nearby emergency service resources.
They may also be given descriptions or images of wanted items, vehicles, or criminals to look out for, typically by examining the rogues' gallery or during the roll call.
They may simply be tasked with being nearby or establishing police presence, and thus may spend their shift on standby in their area or guarding a certain location; in other instances, officers may be sent to monitor certain locations, or they may be required to check in with supervisors or dispatch along a certain route or schedule to ensure they are active.
It may also result in job termination or reassignment if the officer is consistently unresponsive or ignores an important call within their beat.
[3][4] Popkess and the Nottingham City Police would expand the reactive response model, including overlaying mobile patrol areas on top of several existing foot beats; allowing responding Mechanized Division officers to collect colleagues on foot and take them to incidents; "snatch-plans" to pot up police cars at key road junctions in the event of serious crimes; and the use of unmarked vehicles.
[5][6] The proliferation of technology such as portable radios and mobile data terminals among the standard-issue equipment of police officers, the growth and expanse of cities and residential areas, and changes in interactions between police and the community (such as increased traffic stops due to higher automobile ownership), greatly reduced the need for foot patrols and the traditional beat system.
Additionally, concerns over corruption between criminals and their local patrol officer led to a deemphasis in close community bonds.