Foundation Degree in Security and Risk Management - Literature review Example

Foundation Degree in Security and Risk Management April 2007 Intake Module 12 Richard Gallagher Reference Number: 23965 Submitted on the 26th August 2011 Word count: ???? Assignment: Introduction This paper focuses on how to design a research into the causes and prevention of domestic burglary in the Birchley Estates. The paper focuses on how the research will be conducted to provide and how data will be gathered and conclusions would be drawn from a blend of available information and data to be collected from the research. Research Question In broad terms, the research is “What are the causes of the increase in Domestic Burglary in the Birchley Estates?”. Aim The aim of the research is to identify the causes of domestic burglaries and then formulate a framework for the control of such activities in the community. Objectives A literature review involves examining authoritative texts for information that defines the framework of a new research (Smith, 2010). In this situation, the review of literature brings about three possible causes of domestic burglary a motivated offender, desirable targets and absence of capable guardians (Cohen & Felson, 1979). In handling burglary situations, these facts need to be examined in relation to the facts of the context at hand (Tilley, 1993). When applied to the case at hand, we can identify the increase in assets in the buildings motivates offenders. The increase in student occupancy increases the vulnerable target group drastically. And also, the ease of burglars slipping through the back of the houses makes the student households vulnerable targets. In attempt to deal with these burgaries, Mayhew et al (1976) recommend that there is the need to reduce access and increase risk detection. This therefore forms the framework for the prevention of these student burglaries. Thus the research must seek to attain the following objectives: 1. Evaluate the effect of the increase in student occupancy on the increase in burglaries 2. Assess the effect of the increase in assets per household on the burglary situation 3. Examine the relationship between the increase in burglaries and the choice of escape route for burglars. Hypotheses In operationalising the research, there is the need to formulate hypotheses. A hypothesis is a tentative statement that is tested for its truthfulness or falsity (Kothari, 2005). So for the ease of doing this research, the objectives will be translated to the following hypotheses: 1. The increase in student occupancy has caused an increase in domestic burglary at Birchley Estates 2. The increase in assets that the students bring with them increases the rate of burglaries 3. The option to escape through the alleyway makes it easy for burglars to go undetected. The research will therefore seek to accept or refute these hypotheses. This will form the basis for a choice of either the fixing of gates in the alleyways to impede the escape of burglars and their detection or run a campaign to enable the residents to identify signs of theft and take necessary actions through better security systems like alarms and more secure windows. Research Methodology The research will be conducted in three phases. They are: 1. Data Collection 2. Data Analysis 3. Interpretation and 4. Recommendations Data Collection The data collection phase will involve the collection of data that is relevant in describing the three variables viz 1. The vulnerability of students as targets of burglaries. 2. The increases in assets and its attraction of burglars and 3. The ease of escape through the alleyway for burglars. Vulnerability of students as targets to burglaries To understand vulnerability of students as targets, there is the need to collect data on the number of students who have moved into the estates within the eight quarters of the two month period. This will be complemented by data on the total number of residents. This will aid in comparison. Also, the frequency of burglaries must be known. This should show the general picture and also the frequency amongst student households. This data on the numbers of people living in each housing unit can be collected from the housing authorities in the area. Data on burglaries and their frequencies can be attained from the police archives. Increase in assets and its attraction of burglars The next set of data to be collected should be the number of assets each household possesses. This will be complemented by data on the number of assets in each student household. The data here will help in comparison and analysis when they are compared to the frequency of burglaries in a given period of time. Data on these assets can be collected from individual surveys. The main issue here is that it will be very difficult for data to be collected for each household since there are a lot of people to collect this information from. Secondly, the asset base of each household changes over a period of time. Thus, there will be a difficulty in ascertaining the exact level of assets in each household accurately. Thirdly, there are some privacy issues here since the respondents might not want to give details about certain assets they hold and by law, it will not be possible to attain them. What I recommend is that a sample of student and non-student housing units should be taken and the assets in each of the houses should be checked. The finding should therefore be generalised and used as basis for the conclusion to be drawn on the changes in asset base and its effect on the rate of burglaries. Escape Routes for Burglars Data will also be collected from the various escape routes that burglars have and are likely to use. This can be done by observation, interviews and examination of primary data. Under observation, the research team can go to the homes and examine the weak areas within which a burglar can escape. In this quest a number of options will be identified and these options will be noted. Secondly, there will be the need to conduct an interview with the police unit in charge of burglaries. The questions will try to find out the actual escape routes used by burglars in the estate unit. Based on their experience, they will be able to tell us the normal routes as well as some unusual routes that burglars use to run away from crime scenes. Finally, the interview responses will be confirmed by examining data on the escape routes. This will be done with escape through the alleyway as a reference point. The limitation of this quest is that it will involve too much work and a lot of technical skills in crime prevention. This might be quite challenging even for a police who does not have a lot of experience in handling burglaries. Data Analysis & Interpretation The analysis of students as a vulnerable target will be done through statistical comparative analysis and trend analysis. First of all, the volume of student residents should be expressed as a percentage of the total population in each period. Secondly, the differences in percentages from period to period should be identified. When this is done, the rates of change in burglaries can be identified and related to the changes in the students population in the vicinity. This can give a conclusion on whether students are a vulnerable target or not. Secondly, the data from the sample of households will be expressed in average terms. Thus the number of assets per student household will be aggregated and an average will be identified. This will be complemented with the average number of assets per ordinary household. After the numbers are attained, the worth of asset per student and non-student household will be identified. This will be compared with the rate of burglaries and a conclusion will be drawn on whether the quantity of assets and the worth of assets in each set of households had a link with the increase in burglaries or not. Thirdly, after a number of possible escape routes are identified, they will all be evaluated on their frequencies and the relative ease. For the purposes of frequency, the data on the the other forms of escape routes used by burglars will be examined from the various data sources. Afterwards, the relative ease of the various escape routes identified in the observation and interviews will be ranked according to their sensitivity. Frequency from the data and the ranking will be the basis for the evaluation of whether the escape through the alleyway is the easiest or there are other easier options available for burglars to get away with their crimes undetected. Recommendations After all this is done and completed, there will be conclusions on three things: 1. Whether the increase in student tenants has led to the increase in burglaries or not 2. Whether the burglars are motivated by the volume of assets in households or not 3. Whether the alleyway offers an easy escape route or not These three findings will form the basis for recommendations on whether the police should install gates or not or whether there should be a crime prevention campaign. This can only be done after we have been able to establish the target group of burglars, the motivation of burglars and the preferred escape route of burglars. This is because conclusions on these three things can enable the research team to conduct qualitative research to identify which of the two options of burglary prevention can reduce access to homes and increase risk of detection (Mayhew et al, 1976). This qualitative research can be conducted by way of observation and surveys. These two tools will give an overall view of the attitudes that can enable predictions on the effectiveness of the two options available to fight burglaries. The first tool will entail the observation of the general attitudes of the residents to crime fighting. This can be done through the observation of the various crime detection tools and techniques of the community like the common alarm systems installed. Secondly, there could be the logging of information of times that people are around and times that there people are less alert. Also, the interaction between individuals and neighbourliness will be examined by checking the number of people who exchange pleasantries per number of occasions that people go past each other. The second tool will be the use of questionnaires. Questionnaires can be used to guage the commitment of individuals to each of the options for crime prevention. The questionnaires can be style to identify the attitudes that people will have towards each of the two options when they are implemented. Details are given in the qualitative questionnaire below. Timeline The research can be conducted over a period of four weeks. In the first week, the data can be planned and specific arrangements can be made with the various participants. In the second week, quantitative data can be analysed and interviews can be planned. In the third week, the interviews will be concluded and the final analysis of data will be conducted. This will be followed by qualitative data collection in the middle of the third week. In the fourth week, the research would be concluded and the recommendations can be made. Limitation of Research First of all, the research will be used to predict matters in the future based on historical factors and data. There is no guaranteed that in future, the trends will remain the same. This could render the whole research void and useless. Secondly, the research is seeking to identify the general trends and actions. However, it is not sensitive to individual differences in carelessness, laxity and desire to prevent crimes. This therefore means that even if the most stringent research is conducted, there is the possibility that some people might show little support for the whole process, thereby making the research ineffective. Quantitative Analysis: 1. The records show that there was an increase in student housing in the area from 104 houses in 2005 to 145 houses in 2006, an increase of 41 houses or 39%. Over the same period, the number of reported domestic burglaries increased from 80 in 2005 to 110 in 2006 an increase of 30 burglaries or 37%. Looking purely at these figures, I can conclude that the rise in the areas burglary rate is in line with the rise in student house occupancy. The similar rises in both student occupancy and the rise in domestic burglary, may be linked and show that burglars are targeting the area, due to the high student occupancy of the area. This may be down to a number of reasons. That burglars may perceive the area to have a high turnover of occupants, so strangers are less lightly to be noticed or challenged (need to find figures of average age group of burglars and link to students) and possibly the perception that by targeting student accommodation, with higher occupancy that the rewards of the burglary may be higher, eg: 4 students in a house equals 4 laptop, 4 ipods etc. 2. Even though the figures show a link between the rise in student occupancy with the increase in the areas burglary rate. The figures do not support the theory that student accommodation is being targeted more than owner occupiers.  In 2005 96 houses where owner occupier and out of those 96 houses, 35 where burgled. That shows a 36% lightly hood of an owner occupier house being burgled. In 2006 only 55 houses where owner occupier and out of those 55 houses, 36 where burgled. That shows a 65% lightly hood of an owner occupier house being burgled. In comparison, in 2005 students occupied 104 dwellings in the area and of those 45 where burgled, a lightly hood of 43%. In 2006 students occupied 145 dwellings and of those 74 where burgled, a lightly hood of 51%. This shows that owner occupiers are more lightly to be burgled in the area, than student housing. This points to the possibility that the high student occupancy in the area is attracting burglars to the area, however the burglars are not specifically targeting student accommodation. This may be down to a number of reasons, the burglars are targeting vulnerable houses with poor security, regardless of occupancy. NEED more!!!!   3. The amount of burglaries where offenders escaped through alleyways has decreased by 8% between 2005 and 2006. From 62 instances or 77% of all reported burglaries in 2005 to 57 instances or 52% of all burglaries in 2006. As stated above in 2005 77% of the reported burglaries, the offender used the alleyways as an escape route. This would initially support the crime prevention strategy to support more secure gate system on alleyways. However out of the 110 burglaries in 2006, only 52% showed that alleyways were the preferred method of escape. This is approximately half of the offenders escaping via the alleyways in 2006 as oppose to the majority in 2005. This raises a number of questions: It may be more useful the obtain figures on preferred method of entry into the properties, as a more secure alleyway system may only reduce burglaries in half the properties. Why ? Have more gateways been fitted since 2005. Perhaps a question to be put into the survey. Was your gate to your alley fitted before Dec 2005. If more people have had alley gates fitted the figures support this as a positive crime prevention method. Why, are more people now using the keys in the alley gates (QUESTIONS IN SURVEY TO BE INCLUDE ON IF YOU USE THE KEY IN YOUR GATE). Current trends show the alleyway escapes on the decrease Qualitative questionnaire:   1. How long have you lived at this address? This question is designed to ascertain the turnover of residents in the area. The answer to this question should help to ascertain whether neighbours know each other and in turn whether they would notice strangers visiting other address or unusual patterns of life.   2. How many people aged over 16 live at this address? This may ascertain the amount of student housing in the area. Also young male/females are more inclined to own high value gadgets/property that are easily stolen and resalable on the black market.   3. Have you been a victim of burglary within the last 5 years at your current address? This will provide figures in relation to those addresses that have been burgled and link in with question 4 to compare burglary with levels of security at those addresses. This will intern help determine if it is worth while upgrading the security at other addresses in the area. 4. Is your property currently fitted with any additional security systems (eg: burglar alarm, dead locks or window locks) and where these measures introduced pre or post burglary? This question is linked in with question 3 and should help to establish what security levels addresses already have, their effectiveness and also help with costing to be worked out for those properties not currently fitted with window locks. 5. If you have answered yes to question 3. Could you kindly state how the burglar gained entry to your property? This will assist in collating burglary entry techniques and help to target crime prevention measures. 6. Would you be happy to pay around £10 to have your window and door lock upgraded if the ones you currently have could be replaced in order to assist you with a higher level of security ? The answer to this question would gauge the occupants support for this option. If the majority of occupants are not willing to pay this nominal sum to upgrade their security, then this option can be ruled out. This question is central to this study.    7. Do you currently own your house or are you a tenant? This question would give us an better idea of housing occupancy and also gauge if further permission is needed from landlords to instigate either of the proposed options. 8. Do you  know your neighbours? This may ascertain how likely people are to be aware of strangers in the area and alert the police to potential burglars and is linked to question 1.   9. Would you be willing to join a neighbourhood watch scheme? This would ascertain the residence commitment to long term crime prevention in the area.   10. Would you be able to attend a meeting to discuss the finding of this survey and a discussion on the crime prevention method to be employed? This may communicate the importance of the meeting to the student group that were underrepresented at the last meeting. Cohen, L. E. and Felson, M. (1979) ‘Social Change and Crime Rate Trends: A Routine Activity Approach’ American Sociological Review, 44 [4]: 588-608. Kothari, C. R. (2005) Research Methodology New Delhi: New Age Publishing Mayhew, P., Clarke, R.V.G., Sturman, A. and Hough, J.M. (1976) Crime as Opportunity, Home Office Research Studies No. 34. London: HMSO. Mooney, Linda, Knox David & Schacht, Caroline (2010) Understanding Social Problems Mason, OH: Cengage Learning Smith, Martin (2010) Research Methods and Literature Review MA: Edward Elgar Publishing Tilley, N. (1993) After Kirkholt: Theory, method, and results of replication evaluations, Crime Prevention Unit No 47, London: Home Office. Read More