The Current Climate of Financial Constraints Will Have a Dramatic Impact on Investigating Crime - Term Paper Example

 The Current Climate Of Financial Constraints Will Have A Dramatic Impact On Investigating Crime Adequate sources are required to prevent crime, both the sort of financial and manpower. Without ample resources, it become quite difficult to pursue, apprehend and later provide sufficient evidence to have the criminal (s) convicted and sentenced as befits the crime (s) committed. A well organized police force is absolutely essential for fighting crime and maintaining law and order in any country. Due to the recession, the government has had to cut back it expenditures across the board. This has even resulted in layoffs in police departments throughout the country, or has cut back their allocations for patrolling the streets to prevent street crimes (Moro, 2012). The recession has affected every segment of society especially the working class. When people are without work for a prolonged period of time, even honest citizens sometimes turn to crime to pay their bills mostly in urban areas. In such situations, the resources of the crime prevention agencies are usually focused on serious or violent crimes, and they usually ignore lesser offences such as burglaries due the scarcity of manpower and other resources such as cars for patrolling, or even clerical personnel for filing in report or preparing the paperwork to present the cases for court proceedings. In the absence of police personnel on the streets, minor arguments may escalate to shootouts or stabbings because the presence of police usually acts as a deterrent and prevents the situation from escalating. Other crimes such as auto thefts, shoplifting, provoked and aggravated assault, property crime, gang wars, murders, domestic battery, aggravated burglary, fraud, rape and kidnapping all are on the increase due to the cutbacks in police budgets. Besides having an adequate number of personnel, other things that are essential for effective policing are vehicles, monitoring and tracking equipment (Moro, 2012). Computer systems for maintaining records and other paperwork. Funds are also needed to hire additional civilian personnel on a temporary basis or to pay off informants who are an essential part of any police network. The police department needs forensics laboratories, equipment and chemicals and qualified staff to man these laboratories. Then too offenders who are apprehended need facilities such as beds in the lock ups and prisons, before they are released on bail, or if they are not released on bail they do require other facilities such as food, medicine and police personnel for keeping a watch over these prisoners so that they do not riot and kill each other or try to break out of prison, thereby endangering society at large (Joynt, 2002). Early release of prisoners: Due to constraints on their budgets some convicted offenders are being released earlier on parole or being pardoned because of the paucity of funds to maintain them in prisons. Statistics have proved that more than 86% of prisoners who are habitual criminals, turn back to their criminal ways, and if released in large numbers into their respective communities, crimes such as burglaries, physical assaults on people, armed robberies, drug dealing and prostitution increases considerably because habitual criminals are have a tendency to make easy money without laboring for it. This causes more problems for the police as they have to work longer hours and keep a watch on convicted offenders (Sims, February 2009) Special Police Units: Usually the police force requires special units for combating the import, sales and distribution of illicit drugs. The reduction in personnel also increases the number of highway accidents, as highway patrol police are stretched to their limits handling incidents, and might not have the time to check rash driving and speeding which can lead to horrific accidents resulting in the loss of life and untold damage to vehicles, the highway itself and other government and privately owned equipment. Other areas that budget constraints will severely affect will be providing security for parks, units for apprehending fugitives from justice, vice squads, economic crime unit, fleet maintenance, fingerprinting, DNA testing, citizens reporting online crime in fact every facility or unit that is essential for crime prevention, apprehension and convictions of offenders (Steffen, 2009). Overtime for police personnel: Currently due to the lack of funds these police officers cannot be paid overtime and hence they usually do not work longer hours. With the absence of a strong police force, there is a dramatic increase in criminal activities. Other major expenses are spent for buildings, uniforms for police personnel, retirement pensions and benefits and the training of cadets, or special training for police officers to combat specific hi tech crimes as criminals usually are far ahead of the police in equipment, technology and personnel (Sims, February 2009) In the contemporary world, a major crime prevention tactic would be financial investigations of groups of people involved in money laundering, transfers to criminal gangs or terrorist’s organizations. If the proper investigations are carried out as to the source of funds of terrorist organizations, then there would genuinely be a reduction in terrorist activities, because if they have no funds, they will not be able to buy or rent equipment, or move swiftly from one country to another or perpetuate bombings in public places, there destroying property and indiscriminately killing innocent civilians which usually include a large number of women and children. Adequate funding will result in corresponding investigating the source of funds, where they are deposited, and will also help in tracing the sponsors of terrorists without which terrorism could be completely eliminated (Sims, February 2009) Money Laundering: Although there is legislation in nearly all countries in the world counting money laundering as a criminal activity, the recovery of criminal assets and the rates of conviction are quite low, because effective investigation procedures requires special equipment, software and highly trained accountants and analysts with financial acumen to gain access to the requisite information. Another factor in the low conviction rates is that criminals who launder money illegally have large amounts of money which they spend on hiring the best lawyers and use that money to suppress evidence and sometimes even intimidate witnesses who are too scared to testify against them. Such high profile trails cost an enormous amount of money, the lack of which results in these criminals not being convicted. When caught, they have the resources to put up bail in the millions, so all the time, efforts and money that the law enforcement agencies have used simply goes down the drain, as the minute they are released on bail, they start their activities all over again almost immediately. Since the police cannot protect the witnesses indefinitely, mostly due to lack of funds, people do not come forward to testify for fear or reprisals by the criminals or their associates. This could take the form of torture of the witnesses or their near and dear ones, destruction of their property or even murdering them or some dear to them to deter them from bearing witness in a court of justice (Moro, 2012). Property Crimes: There is also a direct relationship between reduction in policing activities and property crimes. Many people who would not ever think of purchasing stolen property, items that they usually buy from legitimate sources, would then acquire these items for reduced prices although they know that these items have been stolen. Many people do not report the theft of small items, or even if the thefts are reported the police cannot spare the resources to spare the time as the manpower is usually engaged in investigating bigger crimes. Fraud and embezzlement increase significantly as the personnel needed to investigate, apprehend and then bring to trial are not enough to look into each incident of fraud or embezzlement, or by the time they do have the police can spare the resources, considerable time has elapsed and probably the complainant is not interested in pursuing the complain, the perpetuator is no longer in the vicinity. Due to the popularity and easy accessibility of the Internet, many people are cheated by “get rich quick schemes” but the crime prevention does not have the resources to track down these criminals White Collar Crimes: White collar crimes are not violent, but they are committed for illegal money, and usually committed by people who have quite respectable social standing. These crimes include fraud, embezzlement, ponzi schemes, computer related crimes, insider trading, identity theft, contravention of copyright and many more. A very lucid description of white color crime would by stealing, lying and cheating. This crime too has many victims, sometimes in the thousands. One single white collar criminal act can virtually destroy many families who have probably invested their entire life savings in a scheme in which they at least hoped, if not to grow excessively rich, to at least have a stable source of income for their retirement, or for such times as this recession which has resulted in massive layoffs. Contemporary embezzlement schemes are quite complex and highly developed, and to stop them before they cause massive damage the police need to have highly trained personnel and equipment to collect evidence so that they can book catch these cheaters while they are conducting their fraudulent activities. Again this requires ample funds and technical resources, which again cost money to stop and apprehend these white collar criminals. Cut down in the funds of investigation agencies encourages white color crime as they are usually aware of the fact that without sufficient evidence they will not be convicted, or even when caught can easily afford to post bail by finding loopholes in the charges against them with the help of clever lawyers. If the law enforcement agencies could afford better equipment and hi tech personnel, the possibility of obtaining convictions would be greatly enhanced thereby deterring would be white collar criminals (Aldrick, May2010) Another crime which cannot be properly policed is patent fraud where cheap goods manufactured in Hong Kong, China, or other countries are sold at exorbitant prices. These prices are basically less than the price of the original, but still quite expensive. The buyers are duped into believing that they are getting the genuine article, and since the prices seems to be affordable they are tempted into buying a worthless article for many times the price. Other scams and frauds include adoption frauds, time shares schemes; work at home frauds, stock scams, staged auto scams, insurance scams and many more. Even with the quantity and quality of policing available, criminals are not deterred and because of the recession and massive layoffs, criminal activity is on the rise. If the already depleted police and investigative agencies are further cutback due to budget constraints, criminal activity will increase considerably. Current low levels of police resources are being further cut because of financial difficulties. The things is that if other non-essential services are cut down to save money, the quality of life and safety of citizens might not be affected as much as the reductions in the budgets of law enforcement agencies as that would make society lawless, and make criminals bolder and more adventurous. In that case instead of a normal society, it could become a jungle out there (Joynt, 2002). Illegal Immigration: Illegal immigration, after drug dealing is the most lucrative criminal venture. Criminals and their agents make billions of dollars by transporting people illegally across borders. The methods used by them are quite dangerous, and thousands of deaths have resulted from this illegal trade. Apart from the deaths, illegal immigrants are prime sources for drug smuggling, child prostitution and other criminal activities. Without an adequate police force, effectively policing borders and sea routes is not possible. Again curtailments or cuts in budgets will leave many entrance areas without adequate protection resulting in more human trafficking. Besides enough manpower, surveillance and tracking equipment and all weather gear and vehicles are absolutely essential. Most entry points especially in Europe are quite vulnerable, and human traffickers have perfected techniques for avoiding detection agencies. People arrive in Spain or France through land routes, and once inside European Territory, can cross over to England even without the appropriate papers. With the proper equipment and other resources, this evil of human trafficking can be reduced considerably, with the possibility of being completely eliminated. Again this requires financing to effectively policing of all avenues, the openness of which allows this trade to flourish (Aldrick, May2010). Conclusion: Therefore it can be concluded that financial constraints do have a dampening impact on the investigation and control of crime. If the menace of crime is to be driven out of the society, then sufficient resources would need to be allocated to law enforcement agencies so that they can put in their hundred percent to free the society of this problem. Moreover, proper monitoring should also be done to make sure absconders don’t get away from the hands of law making agencies just due to lack of financial resources. References Aldrick, Philip. (May 21, 2010). Coalition unveils new UK 'white collar' crime-fighting agency. The Telegraph Barret, David. (February 20, 2010). Thousands of illegal immigrants have been granted "squatters' rights" to remain in Britain permanently after proving they have lived here for 14 years, it can be disclosed. The Telegraph. Countering Radicalization And Recruitment. (September 12, 2011). European Commission Home Affairs. Dodd, Vikram. (14 February 2008). £100m drug trafficking ring smashed by 30 raids, say police. The Guardian. Guide to Property Crime (January, 2001). UK Statistics Authority. Publication Hub: Office for National Statistics. Joynt, Jeremy Scott. (March 15, 2002). An A-Z of money laundering: BBC News Online business reporter. BBC News, World Edition. Moro, Marianne, (2012). Economic Factors Affecting Police Officers. EHow Money. Patent infringement (October, 16, 2011). Intellectual Property Office. Stephen Raphael and Ebmer, Rudolf Winter. (June, 2008). Identifying the Effects of Unemployment on Crime. Center for Policy Economic Research. Sims, Paul. (February 26, 2009). Suspicious teacher exposes double life of girl, 15, earning £100,000 a year as an up market prostitute. Mail Online. Read More