Assignments & duties
What is a patrol?
A patrol is a planned route an officer walks or drives around a site, checking defined points. Patrol records are the evidence that a site was actually covered during a shift.
Use this diagram+
Free to use on your own site, in training material or in a handout, as long as the credit link stays on it. Paste this where you want the diagram to appear.
<figure>
<img src="https://secureoptix.co.uk/glossary/patrol/diagram.svg" alt="patrol — diagram from SecureOptix" width="880" height="620" loading="lazy">
<figcaption>
<a href="https://secureoptix.co.uk/glossary/patrol">What is a patrol?</a> — diagram by
<a href="https://secureoptix.co.uk">SecureOptix</a>
</figcaption>
</figure>Points are placed so that reaching them all means covering the site, which is why a patrol record is evidence about coverage rather than just about attendance.
Predictability is the weakness. A patrol at the same time by the same route every night is easy to record and easy to work around, which is why varied timings are worth the administrative awkwardness.
Missed points are the useful signal. A pattern of one point never being reached usually means the route is impractical there, not that an officer is idle.
What goes wrong in practice
- Fixed timings and routes that anyone watching the site can predict.
- Missed points noticed only when a client complains.
- Records completed at the end of a shift rather than at each point.