Résumé
In response to a request by the Police Association of South Australia, this literature review was undertaken by the Australian Institute of Criminology on the issue of single person police patrols both in Australia and internationally. The report examines challenges faced by first-response police officers when working alone and the impact this had on them, operational decisions to deploy single person patrols and how the community view this issue. Information was collated from peer-reviewed journal articles, newspaper articles, coronial inquests, opinion pieces, court transcripts and personal correspondence. It concludes that there has been limited research on single person patrols in policing and of the research findings available in the literature, results are mixed and updated research needs to be undertaken.