The Perception Among Police Policymakers: Correlation Between Manpower and Arrest of Offenders - Research Paper Example

 Introduction Texas City is one of the more historic cities in the U. S. A. Texas City serves a residential, ethnically diverse population of approximately 50,000. The City is heavily industrialized and located 40 miles southeast of the major population center of Houston and 10 miles north of the popular tourist destination of Galveston Island. The City is experiencing a population and commercial growth from the expansion of the Houston metropolitan area and has the potential to become its suburb. Recently, Texas City has experienced an increase in robberies and burglaries in residential areas, particularly where the less affluent section of the population resides. As a countermeasure to contain this phenomenon, the Texas City Police Chief has decided to empty the police station this week as part of an aggressive crime crackdown citywide. The crackdown will be aggressive, and the Police Chief has already sent a warning to the Galveston County Sheriff that his jail may have far more residents. He also sent a warning to the District Attorney to expect a lot of calls requesting charges against suspects. The primary focus of this “Crackdown” will be on crime prevention, crime detection and investigations. The Police Chief plans to flood those streets and neighborhoods where crime reports have increased in recent months with police officers. However, as with any policy decision, this proposal has also met with a lot of opposition from the detractors. They argue that the results of this crackdown will not be effective in the long run. It is also argued that the perceived results of this proposal do not justify the cost of implementing it. The city officials are concerned that the police force may abuse its power. Some prosecutors including the District Attorney feel that the crackdown will result in a strain on the relationship between the force and the community. The Mayor of Texas City called upon the experts in the specific branch of knowledge and based on their inputs and the data made available to him by concerned officials, has commissioned this research. The research problem is to devise a system of measures aimed at reduction in crime rates in the city. Hypothetically it is suggested that targeting minor crimes with a view to prevent serious crimes is the most effective approach of preventive policing. Purpose of Study There is a perception among police policy makers and the public that enforcement strategies (primarily arrest and increased manpower) applied broadly against offenders committing minor offenses lead to reductions in serious crime. This type of enforcement relies on the “broken windows” theory. This study will determine if there is a correlation between manpower and arrest of offenders in reductions of serious crimes. The study will be beneficial for police forces around the country for the purposes of reduction in crime. If the hypothesis be proved, it will allow diversion of funds from current heads to the activities as described in this research project. Criminologists and social scientists will also benefit as the project will help understand the psychology of a neighborhood and its response to broken windows and/ or friendlier policing. Long term benefits of this approach to reduce crime may include the availability of time for police officials which they can utilize in enforcement of law. Research Question Do enforcement strategies (primarily arrest and increased manpower) applied broadly against offenders committing minor offenses lead to reductions in serious crime? Literature review In 1982, James Q. Wilson and George Kelling, wrote their classic article entitled “Broken Windows". The article described how crime and the physical state of a neighborhood can be interwoven together. The broken windows hypothesis is that there is an obvious connection between low level disorder, crime and the decline of a neighborhood. They contend that the discernible evidence of street graffiti, broken windows left unrepaired, panhandlers, low level crimes such as public drunkenness and prostitution, are indicators that an area is at risk of being targeted for criminal activities. This in turn causes more respectable families indoors or to move away. This reduces the informal supervision and social control that can help to avert serious crime in a neighborhood. The overall impression is that the community does not care and this opens the door for more serious crimes. Wilson and Kelling argue that: “at the community level disorder and crime are usually inextricably linked in a kind of developmental sequence. Social psychologists and police officers tend to agree that if a window in a building is broken and if it is left unrepaired, all the rest of the windows will soon be broken. This is as true in nice neighborhoods as in run-down ones” (Wilson & Kelling, 1982:78) It is asserted by Kelling and Wilson that the best way fight the crime is to fight the disorder that precedes it. In case of unsafe neighborhoods this disorder would mean the presence of panhandlers, graffiti on subway walls and litter on the streets. But the disorder is best symbolized by ‘broken windows’. The Broken Windows Theory suggests that by targeting minor disorder crimes will help to reduce more serious crime. More than two decades later, the three largest cities in the United States, New York, Chicago, and, Los Angeles have all adopted at least some form of Wilson and Kelling’s theory, largely by more aggressive enforcement of minor misdemeanor laws (Harcourt & Ludwig, 2006). In the early 1990s, a number of major US cities put into action order-maintenance strategies. The most notable was New York City. In 1994, Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and police commissioner, William Bratton, put forth the "quality-of-life initiative." The order-maintenance strategies rest on the "broken windows" theory: the thought that minor neighborhood disorder; such as disorderly conduct, panhandling, public drunkenness and prostitution, will lead to more serious criminal activity (Wilson & Kelling, 1982); (Harcourt, 2001) ; (Harcourt & Ludwig, 2006). During the 1990s, supporters of the broken windows theory declared that the theory had been empirically verified (Kelling & Coles, 1996). This verification relied greatly on the findings of a 1990 study titled Disorder and Decline. Additionally, many academics and policymakers argued that order maintenance strategies were the cause for the decline in serious crimes in New York City. Based on these claims, police departments around the country began placing more emphasis on order maintenance policing. What is (public) disorder and what are its implications for neighborhood decline? Of the disorders, a survey ranked public drinking highest, second on the list was the problem of loitering youth and reports of drug use (Skogan 1992). In a recent study in the Netherlands, Kees Keizer and his colleagues from the University of Kroningen created settings to discover whether behavior of people would change if they saw signs of vandalism, litter on streets and minor crimes in a particular locality. The conclusion was that signs of disorder like graffiti or loitering may encourage crimes like stealing etc (Unknown, 2008). In another study conducted in Lowell city, half of the neighborhoods affected by broken windows were cleaned as part of an experiment. It was found that the calls to police stations had dropped to 20% of the previous number after the neighborhoods had been ‘spruced up’. The importance of this study, according to the researcher is “the study shows that non –public-safety services is critical to reduction of crime (Bond, 2009). Research Methodology This study will evaluate the effect of the implementation of broken windows theory in Texas City. For that purpose, a survey of ten localities in Texas City will be carried out. This survey will include the perception of safety or otherwise amongst the residents of those localities. Focus will be on the feelings of the respondents regarding the role of police, the affinity/sympathy that they have towards police, and the effect that the ‘broken windows’ in the locality have on this feeling of safety. The respondents will also be asked questions regarding their perception of the application of the broken windows theory to their locality. Data from the Police department will be collected regarding the incidents of crime in the localities selected for the purposes of this study. The data will first be analyzed to find the correlation between petty and minor crimes like smoking marijuana in public view, indecent exposure, soliciting prostitution, intimidation of strangers etc. For instance the data will be analyzed to find out the proportion of robberies during daytime to reported cases of vandalism. Five of the localities will be chosen randomly out of ten. The experiment to be carried out will be the deployment of police officers on foot patrolling duties. There will also be community policing which will be initiated after a week long course for volunteers from each area. The parks in the locality will be guarded by police personnel 24/7. Culs de sac in the localities shall be provided with adequate lighting. In addition to 911 calls, a separate helpline will be provided for complaints regarding unruly youngsters, particularly at times when they are drinking. The members of the department’s patrol division, criminal investigation division and the field investigative units will be used as rapid response teams. The increased number of officers will have daily assignments, such as patrolling in neighborhoods that have experienced a recent increase of incidents of thefts, criminal mischief, code violations, vandalism, burglaries, robbery and any potential gang activity. This experiment will consist of notable increase of officers on the streets in addition to daily patrol shifts. Operation Crackdown II is a crime fight­ing initiative that is designated to patrolling in neighbors, apartment complexes and busi­nesses that have experienced a recent increase of incidents of thefts, criminal mischief, code violations, vandalism burglaries, robberies and any potential gang activities. They will be work­ing rotating hours of the day and night. The patrols will be in the form of static, motorized and foot patrols and a Rapid Respond Team will be available to respond to any crimes in-progress as well as street level crimes. It has been suggested by study that the residents of a locality with friendlier police personnel feel safer than residents of other localities. To test this, police personnel will be trained to make small talk, encourage residents to approach them by maintaining a friendly attitude and by actually enquiring whether they have anything to report. Even about twenty years ago, an old lady sitting on her front door steps enquiring the strangers in the locality the reason for their presence there a common site. But that trend has died. Now it is only for the police in their patrol cars to enquire a person doing suspicious activities. This can better be done if the police officer is on the road on his feet. In a car, the police officer is behind a barrier and is unlikely to get any knowledge from a citizen. Wilson and Kelling give an example of an officer who encounters a group of teenagers. He would roll down his window, and attempts street banter to no effect. He has not learnt anything from the encounter, and the group of teenagers has decided that the officer is an alien force who can even be mocked. The hypothesis for this study is that the reduction of minor crimes by deployment of more personnel and arresting petty offenders lead to reductions in serious crime by applying the principle of broken windows theory. The study will be qualitative in that it will be data analysis of the figures of crimes committed in the localities where the experiment was conducted and set it off against the same in the other five localities. Surveys The study will firstly carry out surveys of citizens of the locality. The respondents would be (i) Volunteers. (ii) Randomly chosen residents of the localilty (iii) Shop owners in the locality (v) Social workers (vii) Probation officers The survey will be on the following parameters (five questions in each) (i) Feeling of safety in the locality (ii) Would the respondents move out of society or continue staying them in the future if they became more affluent? (iii) Do they report suspicious activities around the neighborhood to police? (iv) Would they volunteer for ‘watchmen’ duty alongside police officers? (v) Their perception of police. Interviews The study will involve interviews of randomly selected police officers, lawyers and lecturers. The interviews will be conducted by the researcher personally. For that purpose, the appointments of the interviewees will be fixed up. The researcher will also be free to interview any other person that he chooses for the purpose. Limitations of the study The study will be limited to the chosen ten neighborhoods. The sampling design may not give a representative picture of all the neighborhoods. The study assumes that the ten localities are most representative of the city. No allowances can be made for the probability that the reduction in reporting of crime may be because of some other factor. The study assumes that the extra police force can be available for the study and that they would be equally trained as the regular police officers. The study allots to the police role of watchmen of the society. The data collected in this study may not be representative of the neighborhood for all times. Conclusion Some neighborhoods of Texas City are reporting more crime than usual, calling for more action from the police. The police authorities think that enforcement measures like arrests and crackdowns will prevent crimes and result in reduction of offences. The Police Commissioner has appointed new police officers and has obtained grants for the experiments to be carried out. The research question is the effectiveness of enforcement strategies (primarily arrest and increased manpower) against offenders committing minor offenses so as to prevent serious crime and reduction in their number and frequency. The problem is complex and needs to be addressed with sensitivity for the rising concern for soft treatment of suspects. The concerns of human rights activists regarding abuse of authority by police necessitates that a new approach to the reduction of crimes in an urban setting. The ‘broken windows’ theory is based on a social perspective of the incidence of crime in a neighborhood which is subject to disorder. The hypothesis is that the reduction of minor crimes by deployment of more personnel and arresting petty offenders lead to reductions in serious crime by applying the principle of broken windows theory. This is consistent with practical life. Where the neighborhood is active that is to say, where the citizens are aware that they need to perform their duties as such, they will recognize strangers. They will stare at loiterers and report drunken louts in their shop fronts. People in better maintained neighborhoods will also be interested in keeping the neighborhood in the same condition which leads them to be more aware factors that may go wrong. This study will reveal the effect that a rundown neighborhood can have on the crime rate. It will also provide statistics to show the correlation between neighborhoods with ‘broken’ windows and others. The study will consist of an experiment involving five neighborhoods where particular measures will be taken to beautify the neighborhood by fixing the ‘broken windows’. Analysis of the experimental group and the control group statistics will be done by comparison. The research will accomplish proof of the broken windows theory and find better ways to reduce crime in Texas City. References Bond, Brenda J.(2009) Research Boosts Broken Windows Theory. Suffolk University News Archive. http://www.suffolk.edu/34417.html (Harcourt B E 2001 Illusion of Order: the False Promise of Broken Windows Policing)Harcourt, B. E. (2001). Illusion of Order: the False Promise of Broken Windows Policing. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. (Harcourt B E 2007 Post-Modern Meditations on Punishment: on the Limits of Reason and the Virtues of Randomization)Harcourt, B. E. (2007). Post-Modern Meditations on Punishment: on the Limits of Reason and the Virtues of Randomization. Social Research, 74(2), 307+. (Harcourt B E Ludwig J 2006 Broken Windows: New Evidence from New York City and a Five-City Social Experiment)Harcourt, B. E., & Ludwig, J. (2006). Broken Windows: New Evidence from New York City and a Five-City Social Experiment. The University of Chicago Law Review, 73(1), 271-316. (Kelling G Coles C M 1996 Fixing Broken Windows: Restoring Order and Reducing Crime in Our Communities)Kelling, G., & Coles, C. M. (1996). Fixing Broken Windows: Restoring Order and Reducing Crime in Our Communities. New York: Free Press. Kelling, G. L., & Sousa, W. H. (December 2001). Do Police Matter? An Analysis of the Impact of New York City's Police Reforms. Manhattan Institute Center for Civic Innovation, Civic Report No. 22. Skogan, Wesley G (1992). Disorder and Decline: Crime and the Spiral of Decay in American Neighborhoods University of California Press, Berkeley (Taylor R B 2006 Book Review of Illusion of Order)Taylor, R. B. (2006). Book Review of Illusion of Order. American Journal of Sociology, 111(5), 1625-1628. (Wilson J Q Kelling G 1982 Broken Windows)Wilson, J. Q., & Kelling, G. (1982). Broken Windows. Atlantic Monthly, (211), 29-38. Unknown. 2008 Can the can. The Economist Nov 20th 2008 http://www.economist.com/science-technology/displaystory.cfm?story_id=12630201&source=login_payBarrier Read More