Over the past thirty years, the public has increased their demands for police services which has contributed to RCMP detachments taking on additional responsibilities. At the same time, changes in policing technologies and Canadian case law have increased the number of steps and the amount of time it takes police to perform many of their routine activities. For many RCMP detachments, an increase in the number of members and other resources has not kept pace to the changes to the job of policing or the demands for police services. ... The purpose of this study was to quantify the typical shift of a general duty police officer in Surrey, British Columbia, how often general duty members perform specific activities, the amount of time it takes, on average, for members to perform their daily activities, and the proportion of time out of a typical full shift these routine activities consume. This current report is the first in a series of reports that will examine general duty officers. While this report will focus on the methodology of the study, an analysis of the main actions and activities that general duty officers engaged in, and the amount of time it takes, on average, to perform these activities, subsequent reports will focus, for example, on officer maintenance and health, general patrolling and police driving, and investigative activities.
