Crime and Disorder in Urban Parks - Essay Example

? Dealing With Crime And Disorder In Urban Parks During the past few months it has been observed that the residents of my area have increased their complaints about the illegal trade and use of drug that the residents have been noticing since the few months. This is a very serious issue and light must be thrown on it and serious action must be taken in order to eliminate this crime and disorder. The most of this trade and dealing of illegal drugs have been observed in the urban parks. Parks have provided these illegal dealers a very nice and easy platform from where they can sell and purchase and make all sorts of dealings related to illegal drugs. The parks in the urban areas are quite large and the security that is present in these parks is not strong enough and not in much number that they can keep a strong check on what is going inside the park. They are only responsible of watching over the outside of the park that no terrorist or burglar enters the park; they only keep an eye on the people who are entering the gate and do not allow who they feel suspicious. The illegal drug dealers know many ways and techniques through which they can make their way to various places from which they can trade and the drug dealers have now chosen urban parks as their main spot of dealing and they usually enter the park well dressed and like respectable ordinary people so the security officers cannot differentiate them from ordinary people. These people then carry out their illegal business in the park and it can only be observed by the people who visit parks regularly for recreation and it cannot be stopped by the local security officers. This crime has increased and become wide spread and nearly all big parks in the urban areas have been reported for the same issue. People have complained that they no longer feel safe while visiting parks or allowing their children to play in the park because they believe that usually drug dealers are also associated with other crimes as well; so they longer have the feeling of security. These drug dealers have their partners and certain secret people who always keep an eye on the security guards and police and when they feel that the coast is clear and there will no longer be any sort of police patrolling or other such things then they inform their in charges which then come in a jiffy and quickly wind up their work before any concerned official can get informed and make any sort of raid. The illegal drug dealers have a very wide spread network and informants who are also wide spread in many different years who keep an alert eye 24/7 to prevent their business from being caught by the police (Kinnane, 1979). A very sad part of this whole case is that there are some black sheeps of our own police department who themselves are involved in such activities and business and they are basically those who inform these drug dealers about the raid the police are about to do and other details being discussed in the police department like informing them about the operational planning of the police department. The greatest threat that this business pose is the wide dealing of syringes; the dealers do not care about the syringes being used or unused, they just sell them and the addicted are in so want of them that they also do not care about the syringe and this is a major reason for many incurable diseases that are now a days becoming wide spread in many parts of the country. It is very necessary that a proper operational policing strategy is developed to control this serious and rapidly increasing issue (Ireland, 1996). A proper operational strategy must be designed in order to eliminate this issue from the root. If a weak strategy is designed then it will not be able to overpower the strong network of the illegal drugs business dealers. Like other departments it has become a necessity for the police department as well to design strategies, tactics and techniques and pay a lot of attention towards strategic planning in the past few years because with the advancements in technology the methods of performing crimes have advanced and therefore the police must also modify their techniques and strategies to the level that they can compete with the people who are involved in crime (Felkenes &Whisenand, 1972). Operational strategies have been developed almost since the beginning of the police department. It is very necessary that the police develop strategies that are very complete and are based on experimental results that are obtained. It is very necessary that the police strategies that are developed and designed must be based on the experimental and empirical research; it is very necessary that these strategies must be developed not on theoretical assumptions but on experimental results. If the strategies are designed on theoretical basis then it is not necessary that the strategy will work and produce beneficial results therefore it is necessary that they must be designed on experimental basis ( MCB University Press, 1997). Patrolling is a very common and effective operational strategy that is designed by the police to prevent crimes. Patrolling can be basically of two types that are patrolling by car or on foot. Patrolling by foot can have certain advantages over patrolling by car. When the police patrols on foot the people’s fear for crime reduces because they know that the police are there for them. The interaction of the police with the citizen increases and this becomes very helpful for the police as they can ask people about certain crimes of which they are witnesses and the people would be ready to help them because they are seeing that the police are working for them and for their security. However it can be costly and reduce coverage area for the police. Patrolling through car can benefit the people as the efficiency of the police performance increases up to a great distance and they can cover a very large area however the interaction of the police with the citizen decreases (Police Foundation (U.S.), 1981). To prevent illegal drug business it will be necessary that both types of patrolling will be necessary and they must be very frequent and increased and they must be random so that the drug dealers cannot remain aware of the time on which the police will arrive. In this way the drug dealers will face difficulty and they will be very likely to get hold on these illegal drug dealers and those who sell syringes. Car patrolling and foot patrolling will both prove beneficial for this purpose (Adams, 1971). Another strategy that can prove beneficial is policing hot spots. This can also prove fairly beneficial in controlling theses drug dealers in urban parks. By performing foot patrolling the citizen’s attitude towards police is more positive and nice. The police can take help from the people who are the regular visitors of urban parks and they can give information and details which the police could never know on their own. The police can also disguise some of their members and pose them as normal ordinary people and they can make certain deals with the drug dealers, make friends with them and get to know about their details and then inform the police about their details and this will of course be very helpful for the police to carry out operation and catch them and eradicate them from their root. The people will certainly know about the main spots where the drug dealers make their deals and carry out their business. They can infirm the police and the disguised police can stay on these main spots and remain connected with the police and inform them about all the movements of such people and then they can make raid and it will likely be successful. Many other strategies can also be applied for preventing crimes. Business of illegal drugs is one crime that is very difficult to take under control and is a crime that quickly spreads far and wide and embeds its root everywhere. Therefore for the prevention and control system that is implemented must be very carefully designed so that its implementation brings out positive results. Patrolling can be very beneficial for controlling drug dealers. Through patrolling they can interrupt crime at the spot (Remsberg, 1995). Drug dealers usually carry out their business under covers and they are very secretive. The operational strategies that are discussed above for the inhibition of illegal drug business can be very effective because they have been designed not by considering theoretical reasons and conclusions but by empirical and practical approaches and research. Therefore it is imperative that the strategy of operation designed will definitely work out in reducing the illegal drug business from the area (Larson, 1972). It should be made sure that the strategy designed must be followed in proper order and systematically. The strategy can only work out if it is followed accordingly. First of all this mission must be kept a secret and very few people who are believed to be honest and devoted must be included in this mission and no other person should be informed about it. From the selected people a few of them must be made to disguise and pose as ordinary people and should be made to try to interact with the drug dealers in different parks and try to extract information from them and collect detail. No immediate reaction should be taken. Each and every process must be carried out with great care and slowly so that no one can get any hint of what is going on in the department and whether any investigation is being carried out or not. After gathering enough information and other details about the illegal drug dealers then this information must be carefully placed and analyzed (Oliver, 1998).Time should be spent on it and thorough study of the information must be made before making any action plan. Then considering the information gathered and analyzed a proper plan must be designed considering their time of meeting and other details. The plan designed must then be again read thoroughly and then revised before implementing. After all this process then only the plan should be implemented so that there remains no loop holes in the plan and the plan can be successful. If this plan is implemented and followed properly then there is no chance that this business of illegal drugs in urban parks are stopped and eliminated from the root (O’Hara, 2009). References Felkenes, G. T., & Whisenand, P. M. (1972). Police patrol operations: purpose, plans, programs, and technology. Berkeley, Calif: McCutchan Pub. Corp. Adams, T. F. (1971). Police patrol: tactics and techniques. Englewood Cliffs, N.J: Prentice-Hall. Police Foundation (U.S.). (1981). The Newark foot patrol experiment. Washington, D.C. (1909 K St., N.W., Washington 20006: Police Foundation. Larson, R. C. (1972). Urban police patrol analysis. Cambridge, Mass: MIT Press. Remsberg, C. (1995). Tactics for criminal patrol: Vehicle stops, drug discovery & officer survival. Northbrook, Ill: Calibre Press. Kinnane, A. (1979). Policing. Chicago: Nelson-Hall. Oliver, W. M. (1998). Community-oriented policing: A systemic approach to policing. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Prentice Hall. O'Hara, P. (2005). Why law enforcement organizations fail: Mapping the organizational fault lines in policing. Durham, N.C: Carolina Academic Press. MCB University Press. (1997). Policing: An international journal of police strategies & management. Bradford, England: MCB University Press. Ireland. (1996). Operational strategy. Dublin: Government Publications. Read More