The Carrollton Police Department will be able to respond to calls for help far faster than ever before, thanks to an assist from an Assistant Professor of Criminology at the University of Texas at Dallas.
Andrew Wheeler, Ph.D., recently helped to redesign the beat patrol system that Carrollton police had been using for years to make it more efficient and reduce each officer’s travel distance by about 20 percent.
Although each beat patrol area in the city was roughly the same size, the average call loads could differ from 15 calls in one section of the city compared to 24 calls, on average, in other areas that were more prone to crime, according to Wheeler.
According to Wheeler, fast-growing cities like Carrollton, and many others in North Texas, can benefit from revising their beats.
"It is a pretty common problem," Wheeler said. "If you have a big apartment complex, or a large store, that can increase calls a lot in different areas of the city."
Wheeler is currently working with the Mesquite Police Department on a similar project.
