out for, typically by examining the rogues' gallery or during the roll call. What officers are expected to do within their beat depends on their agency's policies. 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. Failure to check in may result in another officer being sent to check on the unresponsive officer's safety, or disciplinary action. It may also result in job termination or reassignment if the officer is consistently unresponsive or ignores an important call within their beat. Officers may be permitted to respond to calls outside their beat, especially urgent emergencies or backup requests, but they are expected to return to their beat as soon as possible. Beats may be expanded to cover for other officers responding to incidents outside their beats. History Before the advent of police radio, beats were organized by watchmen and constables in towns and cities to cover specific areas, usually shown on a map in the police station and given some sort of name or number. Officers would be assigned a beat by their sergeant and sometimes given a card indicating that the officer should be at a particular point at set times, usually 30 to 45 minutes apart. The points would usually be telephone booths, call boxes, police boxes, sentry boxes, or public houses, where it would be possible to phone the officer should he be needed to respond to an incident. The officer would remain at the point for a set amount of time, typically five minutes, and then patrol the area, gradually making his way to the next point. Sometime during an officer's shift, he could expect a supervisory officer to meet him at one of the points. This ensured the beat patrol was being correctly carried out and was an opportunity to discuss problems. The supervisor would sign the officer or constable's pocket book, ensuring that it was up to date. Missing a point or a supervisor meeting often resulted in disciplinary action. Officers typically had many limitations on what they could do their beat and were dissuaded from forming close bonds with their community.