In police terminology, a beat is the territory that a police officer is assigned to patrol. Beats are used to effectively divide available officers across a law enforcement agency's jurisdiction, ensuring organized police presence across a wide area. "Beat" often refers to specifically foot patrols or bicycle patrols, though "beat" can also be used to simply describe a designated area patrolled by a police officer through any means, such as an officer in a police car or police aircraft. "Police beat" is also used by news media to refer to reports on local crimes and police incidents, often crime reports detailing recent incidents and arrests handled by local law enforcement. Overview Beat policing divides available police officers and resources across an agency's jurisdiction, ensuring timely responses to calls for service and effective crime prevention by dispersing police across wide areas. Beat policing promotes close relationships between police and the community within the assigned beat, and uses those relationships to strengthen police effectiveness and encourage cooperative efforts. Officers are typically assigned beats by their sergeant at roll call or when they are first assigned to the area's police station. Beats are typically taken from the wider jurisdiction of a police station (often called an "area" or a "sector") and may be patrolled by one officer or multiple officers. They are often not given the same beat, to ensure wider connection with the community and deter police corruption. Beats are usually only assigned to patrol officers or low-ranking officers; detectives, specialized units, and high-ranking personnel typically do not patrol and are not assigned to beats, though their assistance may be available for officers within a beat. Officers are expected to be familiar with their beats and prominent members of the community, and become trusted members of the community that locals can report problems to, even if the officer may not be assigned to the same beat later on. New officers are often shown around beats or introduced to community members by experienced officers or field training officers to ease them in and allow familiarity. 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