Here’s the hypothetical. Several policemen are assigned to patrol a large state university at night. Instead of going on predetermined, scheduled routes, they follow a random number generator. One number corresponds to a route; another number corresponds to a time at which the policeman will set out and patrol the route. To ensure no under coverage, routes not chosen to be patrolled after a certain period of time will be selected to be patrolled.
Will this more effectively deter crime than regularly scheduled patrols, which seem to be learn-able and circumvent-able? It seems to make crime more costly over the long run as there is no surefire way to know the police aren’t just right around the corner. Has this method of randomness already been implemented in areas?
I know of private night security guys who do this, informally. They don’t use a random number generator, nor number the routes, or anything methodical. They just vary their routes and times. Seems like common sense.
(I used to work at night in a very large, nearly empty building. Me and the security guy! And I never knew where or when I’d bump into him. Or her. The scariest time was when one guard, a woman, hadn’t been told I was there! She thought she was patrolling an empty building. She and I walked around the same corner and nearly collided. She told me, later, that she was half a second away from ramming my head through a wall!)
I’d imagine that learning the route of the security guard is probably more trouble than most criminals will do. Those that are willing to learn the (predictable) route, won’t have much of a problem avoiding a random route.