Crime Prevention Strategy - National Motor Vehicle Theft Taskforce of 1996 - Essay Example

Crime Prevention Strategy Customer Tutor’s Name Customer’s Name Customer’s Grade Course 27th October 2010 Outline This paper discusses one of the major crimes which exists in high rate in Australia; the Car Crime. The paper has analysed the National Motor Vehicle Theft Taskforce of 1996 and its recommendations as some of the measures which can be used in deterring car theft crimes. Some of the other strategies include the government responses, insurance and automotive/private industries partnership to combating this crime, and the Four Es strategy including enforcement of laws, engineering, education, encouragement. However, one of the most strategic approaches discussed is the SARA model of crime prevention which comprises of Scanning of crime environment, Analysing of possible tactics, and Response of the drawn tactics and Assessment/evaluation of major outcomes. Table of contents Title page.......................................................................................................................... 1 Outline............................................................................................................................... 2 Table of contents............................................................................................................... 3 Introduction....................................................................................................................... 4 Car theft prevention in Australia........................................................................................ 5 The SARA model of car crime prevention........................................................................ 7 Scanning................................................................................................................ 7 Analysis................................................................................................................. 8 Response............................................................................................................... 9 Assessment.......................................................................................................... 10 Strategic approach to combating car crime.................................................................... 10 Situational car crime prevention strategies..................................................................... 12 Conclusion...................................................................................................................... 13 Works cited page............................................................................................................ 14 List of figures Fig 1: A diagrammatic representation of the SARA Model for crime prevention.... 7 Introduction 1The crime in Australia has hit high mark in the recent times with the State Postcode and National Motor Vehicle Theft Reduction Council (NMVTRC) noting that for every six minutes, a car is stolen. This makes it for almost 240 vehicles in a day, 1680 in each week, 6720 in a month and close to 100000 every year. These statistics are shocking and unless some strategies are drawn, it would rate the car crime as one of the highest dangerous area in Australia. The above statistics only concern car theft, and since there are other categorized car crimes like murders, head collisions among others, the combined statistics would be astonishing. In some parts of Australia, there are as high as 0.002% that your car would be stolen, and with this rate, it means that some parts which one would have to avoid. And so, the aim in the strategy to be analysed is in prevention of the opportunistic thefts, professional as well as the petty car thefts/crime. In the year 2004, statistics showed that the car related Juvenile crime constituted more than 18% of police apprehensions in South Australia2. However, the extent of crime in Australia is studied to be neither observed easily nor can be measured easily3. Some of the motor vehicle crimes include the opportunistic thefts which results from the carelessness of the driver by leaving the car keys inside, and professional vehicle thefts. In this category of thefts, the thief is specifically experienced in this crime and so he or she applies tactics unique to getting away with the car. Mostly, the thieves operate in groups or gangs and do a lot of planning before they eventually lay their hands on the target vehicle. After stealing, the gang modifies the car in their own garages so as to conceal its identification and then export them to foreign nations where laws and rules regarding imports are not strict. The need to combat this vehicle crime is high in order to put to an end either the opportunistic or professional form of stealing. While for opportunistic stealing require awareness of imminent danger on the side of the driver out of his or her awareness, security agencies have a role to play to ambush and stop the organised and professional car thefts. Car Theft Prevention in Australia There have been numerous attempts which have been generated for combating this category of crime. 4The focus on crime prevention especially the category of car thefts has gained much focus from the intelligence services in Australia; even though the car crime has reduced by 12 percent in the number of stolen cars5. However, there has been a failure in the in the national coordination in Australia in combating this crime, and in fact, Australia has been rated as second after United Kingdom among the western nations in coordination strategies. It therefore calls for enhanced and comprehensive approaches to revitalise the efforts towards coordination between the government agencies and private partners. Such failures had prompted setting up of a National Motor Vehicle Task Force in the year 1997 which reported high statistics on car crime prevalence in Australia. One of the recommended actions noted by the task force, and which can help combat this category of crime is in national coordination of vehicle theft efforts for prevention. 6The focus has shifted to coordinating strategies even with the communities and the households as a way of protecting crime and ensuring an all grounded strategy. Some of the strategies the task force recommended included; identifying the interests at stake, surmising and learning as quick as possible from the history of the National vehicle theft prevention effort, analysing Australian car theft problem anew, engaging in brokering activities with integrated efforts from all sector players and have an inclusive approach, and coming up with a comprehensive national approach, focussing on the delivery of cost effective results. The national strategy which the task force noted could be of much help included component identification, registration procedures, vehicle identifiers, vehicle security improvements, and Juvenile vehicle theft prevention. The Juvenile vehicle approach encompasses deterring organ-ised offenders and making the cars to be easy to detect when a theft occurs. The only problem in this is that most (75%) of the thefts are opportunistic and so cannot fall under the organised gang strategies. A systematic analysis of car thefts has made police departments worry and seeking for partnership, and this problem is more in Sydney and Australia7. In component identification, what is required is detailed research in identifying the levels of trade especially on the professional kind of stealing and installation of components for identifying the vehicle once it is stolen. The task force came up with an implementation strategy which involved four aspects of the plan. The first aspects of the implementation is a five year implementation plan including; overseen by the council on national motor vehicle, membership of the government agencies and the insurance as well as automotive industry players. The second aspect includes the council being assisted by a small secretariat which would be given the mandate from the government and insurance/automotive players. The focus here is in the implementation of suggestions by the task force and other measures for combating this form of crime. The third aspect of the implementation is for the insurance industry to offer significant contributions in the running of expenses to be incurred by the council for effective implementation. The last or the fourth aspect is in enhancing and integration of all minds from both the private and the government stakeholders. The common driver is also to be educated on keeping his car in safe places and avoiding leaving his or her car keys in the car as not to promote the opportunists. However the focus of the implementation council is in the professional thieves and the organised cartels running this business of selling and importing stolen cars. Vertical and lateral integrated approaches are required in combating this crime and this approach would be effective as awareness would cut across on the need to fight it as a group. As well, there is need for an articulated strategy and an evaluation framework which can be based on some sound technical assessment. However, one of the most integrative approaches to combating this crime is the SARA model for car crime prevention. When well planned, the amount of money which the Australian government has been spending on funding the police activities would be reduced8. The SARA Model of Car Crime Prevention The SARA model of car crime prevention recognises the importance of initial research before carrying out any strategy. 9The SARA model has four main components of the strategy for combating crime, and these are: Scanning, Analysis, Response and Assess Fig 1: A diagrammatic representation of the SARA Model for crime prevention S: Scanning for Car Crime Prevention 10This is the first stage in the fighting of car crime and involves thorough studying the situation in an effort to confirm that there is a problem exists regarding car stealing. The next step is in grouping of identical incidents into some cluster or themes; for example, the grouping of these car thefts into petty, professional and opportunistic stealing of vehicles. The recurring problems should be identified so as to have the ones to be tackled first without compromising increase of others. In the identification process, various methods should be employed, whether observation or by polling people on the possibility of existence of such a problem in the society. Therefore, scanning is a methodology in which one tries to prove on the existence of the problem by going deep into the ground to find data and information regarding the possibility of something occurring in the society and worth mentioning. In our case, it is studying thoroughly on the possibility that there are organised gangs which are stealing cars from the owners, changing and modifying its look and then selling it to foreign nations to conceal evidence. A: Analysis Analysis is the second step in the fight against organised gangs for stealing, modifying and selling of cars. It is the use of information from several sources gathered in the scanning stage in determining why and how the problem occurs, who is behind the acts, how and who is affected, the location or situation of the problem, when it occurs and the form taken by the problem. This stage requires the coordinators in fighting crime to identify the patterns that can lead to major explanation of the crime and how it can be solved. Some of the major sources for the organised thieves for cars could include from the police data like arrests, and incident data, from the victims and interviews from the offenders, surveys from the environment, officers, and insurance data. On the overall, analysis of how a crime can be prevented and how it exists in SARA model involves the study of the history of the problem, use of the knowledge acquired in coming up with a working hypothesis, and choosing the best strategy which is comprehensive and integrated11. The analysis stage is grounding all what has been gathered in setting up a comprehensive strategy that can work in favour of what is at stake. In this case, such a process would help in knowing actually the rate at which this problem occurs and some of the strategies which have been used by the perpetrators to get through with their activities. With such kind of information, it is possible for drawing up a responsive formula which is integrated and can act as the reference point to all strategies to be used. The solution to any problem is when one has enough information to solve the issue. R: Response This stage is an extension of the analysis stage in SARA model and looks at the execution of the planned activities. This is a set of tailored actions that can most address the problem identified in the first stage; in this case, the trail of car thieves in Australia, and acting on the set objectives in the analysis stage. Some of the problems which can be solved in this stage include; preventing future offenders in stealing of cars, protection of everyday victims and in this case, the motorists and car owners, and making the spotted car them locations less conducive to the problem acts. The drawing of the response in car crime prevention would focus having a long term solution to the solution. 12The party dealing with the implementation of this problem focuses on removing it from the police consideration and places it in the party or parties selected to restore the order of calmness and security among people. There are a number of options available for coming up with comprehensive method for an enhance response for getting to the bottom of car thefts in Australia. These include: brainstorming for some new inventions which had not been tried before by agencies investigating on this matter, searching for some other parties which may be connected with the masterminds of car stealing. As well, the investigators or implementers would choose from a number of the inventions developed as alternatives while outlining a response plan which focuses on recognizing the parties responsible. Highlighting the objectives of the problem and how to respond to this and carrying out the activities drawn for action. A: Assessment This is the last stage in the implementation of a comprehensive plan to deal with the masterminds of stealing, modifying and selling of cars, and mostly focuses on the evaluation of how effective or ineffective the response was. This stage includes: elimination of the problem in total, reducing the incidents of car thefts to significant levels, instilling better ways of handling such incidents and reduced levels of reported crimes involving car thefts. The assessment stage would be guided with a number of critical areas to look at. These are: increased public or citizen participation, reduction of fear among the citizens and motorists in specific, increased usage of road transportation and owning of cars by the citizens without fear of some fellows punching on them and stealing what they own. The last stage in SARA model is specifically to determine whether what has been laid down was implemented, and evaluation of the failures and successes of the whole plan. This stage would also help in coming up with some new strategies in cementing the ones developed for fighting this form of crime and as well conducting a serious assessment of the whole implementation process. Strategic Approach to Combating Car Crime There exist a number of approaches to combating this famous crime in Australia and mostly, all forms require a collaborative effort. One of the most important and highly placed methods is the effective government response. The government is key to coming up with comprehensive policies which can put an end to the seemingly out of control crime in Australia. The government of Australia can do a number of the following approaches: completion of the national vehicle information grid which would help the registration authorities seal the loop holes which give criminals a chance to exploit available chances for walking free. Another one is in immobilising the fleet, that is, introduction of the engine immobiliser program. Also important is the policing response and the state agents as well as private players have a big role to play in this. Also important is the criminal justice response which makes it clear that any law offenders regarding stealing of cars would attract harsh penalties. The private sector has also a role to play where, they can help in speeding up of investigation and provision of statistics on such crimes. Key to this is the insurance industry which can always provide information regarding the make of a particular car and how it can be traced. This is because this particular player takes all the details for its insurance and so is in a position to make a comprehensive analysis of a lost vehicle. The auto mobile engineers can also easily recognize the finer details of the car or any other form of automobile. Another approach to combating the car theft crime in Australia is in using what is known as the Four- Es strategy. This strategy comprises of four major sub strategies namely: Enforcement, Engineering, Education, and Encouragement. Enforcement focuses on the detection of the criminals, severe penalties as well as deterrence efforts in keeping the offenders at bay with strict state laws. The government has a lot to play in enforcing laws with the police agencies in Australia expected to be on high lookout of people trying to punch on victims or car owners. Engineering looks at improvement of our vehicles and fixing them with safety gadgets like alarms. Some of the alarms have been known to alert the owner without the knowledge of the culprit, and whenever the owner would detect that something is a miss, they would report direct to relevant authorities for action. The most touted strategy is Education which looks at provision of information in giving people the right strategy to combating the crime themselves. This strategy is connected with what is known as public policing where people are advised on how to behave during roads travelling and especially in taking care of their vehicles at any time. This strategy can greatly reduce the petty and opportunistic car crimes while having knowledge on how to deal with organised gangs would help the law agencies and police get hold of the hideouts and activities of the individuals. The last strategy in the Four-Es formula is Encouragement where good behaviours are encouraged by the concerned people. For example, good engineering initiatives or any other action meant at bringing to the limelight the behaviours of law breakers and their actions can be encouraged. Also good behaviours from the motorists themselves would be key to minimising the many errors they do before their cars get stolen. Situational Car Crime Prevention Strategies This approach focuses on identifying the particular crime spot and dealing with it in hard way or with using recognised methodologies. In our case, the situational car crime prevention strategies would be focused on identifying the criminal elements in the society and drawing up strategies to suppress them to the minimal levels. Our focus would be the organised gangs who terrorise people in highways and major parking bays. Some of these strategies include target hardening by installing devices which would detect immediately there is a crime being committed while access control would be by keeping the offenders as far away as possible from their victims and possible theft opportunities. Formal surveillance would be crucial to detecting any form of attempts by organised gangs in highways; for example, the CCTV cameras on major car theft hotspots in Australia. Enhancing surveillance by the car owners themselves where cars would be fitted with gadgets which would inform them immediately there is tampering with the car without even the knowledge of the offender, and then reporting to the relevant authorities. Since most of the organised car thefts are done in highways and in parking bays, entry/exit screening would be crucial to controlling any unauthorised people getting inside parking bays and coming out. Any suspicious people would be screened during entry and when they are coming out of the area and this would reduce greatly potentials for car thefts. Evaluation Model Evaluation models are used in defining the parameters of an assessment, the concepts under study, and the processes as well as the methods that were used for coming up with the outcomes of a process. In this regard, the assessment models to be used would be directed at analysing The SARA methodology of prevention of vehicle crime in Australia, and then assessing the outcome of the model. One of the models which have for long been used for evaluations is the Flashlight Triad Model and even though it is largely used for technological evaluations, it can as well deem appropriate for such methodologies such as car vehicle tracking and general prevention of car crime. This Model covers five major and distinct steps namely; overview and confronting the problem, from the problem to the issue at hand, from the issue to the triad, from the triad to the data, and finally from the data to some other next steps like action or knowing the outcomes. In the overview and confrontation of the problem stage, all the elements of the SARA processes of crime prevention are laid in the table by brainstorming them. These brainstorming would involve the costing and timelines that was involved and other materials that were used in the whole process. All these would be given a thorough look to make sure that they interrelate and focus on solving the problem. Then, the next step is to move from the problem to the issue at hand, and this is by moving from the confusing state of brainstorming to actual application. This stage is the real purpose of evaluation and they even look at the targeted problem, the people to be involved, the equipments among other factors. The third step is the moving from the issue to the triad and this is where all the issues that were selected in the second step help in creating several triads. The triads consist of the type of methodologies or the equipments that had to be applied; for example, the Information Technology used. In our case, the triad would have the equipments (E), the Activities (A) and the Outcomes (O) as the triad. Then, the investigators would select the triad that they would wish to focus on. After the coming up with the triads, the next step is to move from these triads to the data, and in this case, some questions can be generated in the gathering of data in regard to the triad. These questions are usually delivered like surveys, interviews, focus groups, among others. some of the question types include: the equipments that were used, the interaction levels between the equipments and the activities, the interaction of the activities and the outcomes and finally the outcomes. The next step is to move from the data generated in stage four to some other next steps, and these usually involve analysing the outcomes of the processes used. Evaluation methodology The evaluation methodology looks at the whole process and the outcome generated from that process. There are numerous evaluation approaches that exist and can be used for the crime prevention and particularly in analysing the SARA model of car theft crime prevention. Some of the evaluation approaches can that be used are; the goal based evaluation approach, the professional review, the decision oriented evaluation, the system analysis and the illuminative or responsive evaluation approach. The goal based approach focuses on knowing whether the goals that were set for a particular program or process were achieved, and in this, the assumption is that the goals were the most critical part of the process. The decision oriented evaluation helps in identifying the key decisions that have been made for the future regarding the same problem or the problems that were solved and how they can be prevented for the future. The system analysis aims at looking and determining the efficiency of the whole program and provides the information on some few key indicators of the programme effects. These can include reviewing whether the goals were attained. The professional review approach focuses on the judgments that the experts especially from the outside made regarding the whole outcome or the process that was used in coming up with the specific outcomes. The assumption here is that the experts are best placed in assessing the outcome of a particular program. The illuminative or responsive evaluation approach focuses on providing a fine depiction of a programme or the process and the emphases is on some thick description and an understanding of the complexity of the programme. Other specific evaluation approaches or the methods includes; the experimental methods which looks at a high degree of control over where, how, whom, and when in regard to the interventions that have been administered. Another one is the quasi experimental method that is more or less like the experimental method but this adjusts to the constraints of the programme and is able to set it in some varying ways. The other is the survey research methods, and these have a more descriptive method and rely on the reports of the participants or the shareholders. The naturalistic research methods provides useful and in depth information regarding a programme by the use of some extended interviews with some open ended questions. It also utilizes the participants and the non participants’ observation and allows for a detailed exploration of some significant issues. The final method is the ex post facto research method that uses the case studies for its analysis. Conclusion In the discussion, we have noted that the prevalence of car thefts is on the increase in Australia, and in fact the country has been for long one of the nations in western countries which has failed to combat car theft crimes appropriately. It therefore calls for stern measures to dealing with any form of crime and especially which concern the stealing of cars. Some of the types of car crimes discussed include the petty, opportunistic ones and the focus has been on the organised gang car thefts. Some of the strategies which can be adopted include the recommendations of the National Motor Vehicle Theft Taskforce of 1996, SARA model of crime prevention including scanning, analysing, response and assessment, major strategic approaches like government efforts to bring everyone on board and the Four- Es strategy. A programme must be evaluated, and in this case, the model that is most appropriate for this is the flashlight triad model while the methodologies are like the goal based approach, system analysis among others. Works Cited Anthony, Thalia & Chris, Cunneen. The Critical Criminology Companion. Sydney: Hawkins Press, 2008, pp 106 Australian Bureau of Statistics. Year Book, Australia. A journal of Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2005, Issue 87, pp 355 Calensor, RW. FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin. A journal of US department of Justice FBI, March 1998, Vol 67 No 3 Cheney, Adrian. Problem Solving for Crime Prevention. A journal of Australian Institute of Criminology. May 2006, Vol 1 No 314, pp 1-6 Graetz, Brian & Ian, McAllister. Dimensions of Australia Society (2nd ed). South Melbourne: Macmillan Education Australia PTY Ltd, 1994, pp 302 Hill, Philip. “Preventing Car Theft in Australia: Golden Opportunity for Partnership.” A journal of Australian Institute of Criminology, April 1998, Volume 86 No 1, pp 1-6 Levinson, David. Encyclopedia of Crime and Punishment. Volume 1. California: SAGE Publications, 2002, pp 1197 Mazerolle, Lorraine. Third Party Policing. UK: Cambridge University Press, 2005, pp 166 National Library of Australia. “Australia National Bibliography. A journal of National Library of Australia, 1993, pp 350 Schwind, Hans-Dieter. Festschrift-fur Hans Joachim Schneider Zum 70. A journal of Ruhr-Universitat Bochum, 1998, Vol. 1, pp 861 Weisburd, David. Effects of Problem-Oriented Policing on Crime and Disorder. A journal of NCJRS. November 2002,Vol. 1 No. 1 pp 9-89 Weatherburn, Donald. Law and Order in Australian: Rhetoric and Reality. Sydney: The Federation press, 2004, pp 43 Read More