Law Enforcement - Assignment Example

? Law Enforcement The project is prepared given the scenario that “one of the most important aspects to law enforcement management is the anticipation of the resources required to perform police functions effectively; and one of the best tools to assist in this regard is the compilation of data reflecting trends of criminal activity”. In this regard, the project aims to respond to six questions after selecting a state and recording pertinent information relative to criminal activities in the area. To achieve the objective, the state of New York is examined for violent criminal incidents, such as murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault for the period 2006 to 2009. Law Enforcement 1. Select a city, town, or municipality in the United States and examine trends in criminal activity over the last 3 years. Analyze reported crime statistics for major/minor offense categories such as murder, robbery, rape, and CREATE A TABLE OF THE RESULTS. Crime reported by New York City Police Dept., New York coverage Number of offenses reported: Violent Crime Year Months Population Violent Crime Murder and Forcible Robbery Aggravated Reporting Coverage Total Nonnegligent Rape Assault Manslaughter 2006 12 8,165,001 52,086 596 1,071 23,511 26,908 2007 12 8,220,196 50,453 496 875 21,787 27,295 2008 12 8,345,075 48,430 523 890 22,186 24,831 2009 12 8,400,907 46,357 471 832 18,597 26,457 Source: Uniform Crime Reporting Statistics, 2010 Number of Reported Violent Crimes for Murder, Rape, Robbery and Assault, 2006 - 2009 In cases of minor crimes, for property crimes, for example, those that are committed for burglary, larceny –theft and motor-vehicle theft, the following table reveals the statistics: Crime reported by New York City Police Dept., New York Number of offenses reported, Property crime Year Months Population Property Burglary Larceny- Motor vehicle reporting coverage crime total Theft Theft 2006 12 8,165,001 153,436 22,137 115,363 15,936 2007 12 8,220,196 149,488 20,914 115,318 13,256 2008 12 8,345,075 149,989 19,867 117,682 12,440 2009 12 8,400,907 142,000 18,780 112,526 10,694 Source: Uniform Crime Reporting Statistics, 2010 Number of Offenses Reported Property Crime: Burglay, Larceny and Motor Vehicle Theft, 2006 to 2009 2. What are the overall patterns of crime that you see in the selected town or city? What have you learned by the data? From the data, one learned that in the state of New York for the years 2006 to 2009, majority of violent crimes is reflected in the area of aggravated assault, followed by robbery. Only a negligible amount was recorded in rape and the least in murder. Most notable however, was that the total number of violent crimes have been exhibiting a declining trend from the period 2006 up to 2009. On the other hand, for minor offenses like property crimes, the trend manifests predominance of larceny representing more than 75% of total crimes in 2006 and reaching to 75% in 2009 with the least crime in motor vehicle theft representing only about 10% in 2006 and further declining to 7.5% of all property crimes in 2009. Is there a pattern? In what direction are the trends going? What crimes are on the decline or rise? While it was seen from the chart, there is no clear apparent pattern in the incidents of violent crimes. The number of incidents for aggravated assault, for example, manifests an up and down pattern where the assaults from 2006 increased, then decreased in 2008 before increasing again in 2009. The same goes with other violent crimes, where the number of incidents increase and decrease intermittently. However, from the total violent crimes, it was eminent that the total number has been manifesting a decreasing trend or pattern since 2006. For minor offenses, the overall manifested trend as exhibited in the total property crime is declining for the period under review and larceny dominating the property offense classification. 3. What are the surprises and usual results in the data that you analyzed? Actually, for a city as New York, one would initially expect that the number of violent crimes in the area would manifest an increasing trend. It is therefore surprising that the statistics revealed that the total number of violent crimes and property crimes have indeed been exhibiting a decreasing trend which means that law enforcement strategies and efforts have been successful in containing and preventing these criminal activities. However, since the number of aggravated assaults, followed by robbery is still apparently high, representing about 40% to 50% of the total violent crimes recorded for the period under study, policing in the state of New York must therefore focus on enforcing stringent efforts to anticipate and prevent robbery and assault. By being more visible and vigilant in areas where these crimes more frequently and commonly occur, as well as in risk time periods (at wee hours of the night; or in taxi cabs and in dimly lit areas), policing could help decrease these levels. 4. If you were in charge of obtaining manpower with a budget that will permit you to hire eight officers, which include investigative personnel and administrative personnel, which crime units would be given priority to add manpower according to your data? Why? As revealed from the statistics, if one were in charge of obtaining additional manpower with an appropriate budget, one would give priority to focusing on aggravated assault followed by robbery in the state of New York because, the trend and patterns show that these violent criminal activities remain to surpass other violent crime incidents in the area. Aside from hiring additional manpower, other strategies would actually assist in preventing and addressing violent crimes in New York. As evidenced from the most current reports provided by New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS), “crime in New York State declined 4.4 percent during the first six months of 2011 as compared to the same timeframe last year, with reductions reported statewide in each of the seven index crime categories: murder, forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny and motor vehicle theft” (par. 1). (New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, 2011). The strategies for the decline actually included the following: “the expansion of crime analysis and intelligence development capabilities through the establishment of Crime Analysis Centers; (investment) in technology, including license plate readers and electronic fingerprint equipment, and enhanced the flow of information to local law enforcement; and law enforcement training (where) in the past year, the agency has trained officers in a variety of best practices designed to enhance crime-fighting capabilities” (New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, 2011, p. 1). In terms of property crimes where larceny dominates, the state of New York through the CJS highlighted the enforced application of expanding the databank for DNA, “a powerful crime-fighting tool that helps convict the guilty, exonerate the innocent and bring justice to victims. The Databank was created to maintain DNA profiles of convicted offenders so that law enforcement officials can identify perpetrators of crimes when DNA evidence is retrieved from a crime scene” (New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services, n.d., p. 1). This method would be most useful to assist in solving larceny in New York. 5. Provide 3 recommendations that present the need or cut of manpower numbers according to the crime statistics you obtained and analyzed that will make the police department decisively more efficient by drops of crime rates in the worst crimes presented by your data. Actually, as noted in the report published by the New York CJS, not only the number of manpower needs to be focused on but the collaborative and intensified strategies to address violent crimes such as: (1) additional manpower training to intensify crime-fighting in the area such as focusing on risk areas and ensuring that 24/7 visibility of law enforcement personnel are present; (2) investment and regular updates on technology needed to avert criminal activities (like for taxi cab drivers, for example, who are frequent victims of robbery, policing strategies should include “separating drivers from passengers; recording activities with security cameras, using radios or alarms to call for immediate help; keeping track of vehicle locations with automatic vehicle location (AVL) systems; putting trunk latches on the inside of vehicle trunks as well as near drivers; and disabling vehicles” (Center for Problem-Oriented Policing, 2011, p. 1) as well as in the expansion of the DNA databank; and (3) intensifying research and analysis of criminal activities (both for major crimes and minor offenses) to maintain a proactive stance to evaluate, analysis and project potential risks and activities in order to anticipate and mitigate their occurrence. 6. As an ending opinion, what are the career options that you see in this case that interest you? Why? From the foregoing, one is led to examine the possibility of pursuing a career in forensic science focusing on crime scene investigation due to the challenging opportunities and the fact that it would address the majority of violent crimes revealed in the current study. One is made increasingly aware of the need to apply not only theoretical knowledge in crime prevention, but also the use of historical information that reveals patterns and trends and identify risk areas and factors in criminal activities. One is therefore more determined and committed to pursue a career as a crime scene investigator or forensic examiner to address and hopefully be an active and instrumental contributor towards minimizing and preventing robbery and aggravated assaults, among other violent crimes in noted states in America. Conclusion The paper has achieved its defined aim of responding to the six questions that focus on examining trends in criminal activity in the state of New York over the last four years, from 2006 to 2009. The discourse analyzed reported crime statistics for major and minor offense categories such as murder, robbery, rape, and aggravated assault, for major crimes; and burglary, larceny and motor vehicle theft, for minor property offenses. Further, the paper likewise discussed the overall patterns in terms of surprising versus usual results and determining priorities that crime units must focus if given the opportunity and budget to increase manpower in the agency. In addition, three recommendations were provided according to the crime statistics obtained to make the police department decisively more efficient by drops of crime rates in the worst crimes presented by the data. Finally, from the results, one perceived that a career as a crime scene investigator or forensic examiner is highly possible to be pursued. One realized the need to be an active and instrumental contributor towards preventing and minimizing the identified violent crimes of robbery and aggravated assaults as in noted from the study of the state of New York, as an initial focus to furthering commitment in the career in criminal justice. References Center for Problem-Oriented Policing. (2011). Responses to the Problem of Robbery of Taxi Drivers. Retrieved October 15, 2011, from http://www.popcenter.org/problems/robbery_taxis/3 New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services. (2011, September 19). CRIME IN NEW YORK STATE CONTINUES TO DECLINE. Retrieved October 15, 2011, from New York State: http://criminaljustice.state.ny.us/pio/press_releases/2011-9-19_pressrelease.html New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services. (n.d.). DNA - Fingerprint of the 21st Century. Retrieved October 16, 2011, from U.S. Department of Justice: http://criminaljustice.state.ny.us/forensic/ Uniform Crime Reporting Statistics. (2010, March 29). Crime reported by New York City Police Dept, New York . Retrieved October 14, 2011, from U.S. Department of Justice: http://www.ucrdatatool.gov/Search/Crime/Local/RunCrimeJurisbyJuris.cfm Read More