Crime Problem at Ruwa - Assignment Example

Crime Problem at Ruwa Introduction The Ruwa community based in South East Queensland, Australia, has been traditionally a peaceful and close-not town. However, in the past few decades, there has been an increase in crimes especially centered at the local high schools. These crimes are usually related to graffiti and vandalism and are causing widespread damage to public and private property. The Premier has instructed that the Premier’s Department (the Lead Department), the Education Queensland Department and the Queensland Police Service Department work together to curb the growing incidences of crime. It is expected that the three departments mentioned above will establish their individual policy objectives while assessing the crime problem in South East Queensland. These policy objectives for each department are illustrated below in Part 1. The next section, Part 2, elaborates upon the strategies and initiatives that are taken up by the three departments to combat the crimes. Part 1: Policy Objectives for Assessing Crime Problem at Ruwa Premiers Department or the Lead Department’s Policy Objective for Crime Prevention The Premiers or the Lead Department is concerned with developing policies and initiatives regarding the administration of various other departments as well as with the development of the local community and industrial environment (. The Lead Department also looks after the care and development of vulnerable communities and regions (. For the peaceful, sustainable and holistic development of the country and the various communities, it is essential that that law and order and safety be maintained [. The increase in vandalism in the Ruwa community is seen by the Lead Department as a problem not only for the local police but also for the local community as well as local governmental agencies. For this, the policy objective for the Lead department is to increase awareness among the various stakeholders – the community, the governmental agencies, the police department, the educational authorities – about crime prevention and to equip them with the necessary tools and resources to combat the crimes (Homel, 2009). Education Queensland Department’s Policy Objective for Crime Prevention The Educational Queensland Department is largely concerned with implementing policies and measures for providing quality education to the locals as well as ensuring integration of the aboriginal students. It also looks after the development of curriculum that is relevant to the future career development of the children. It develops programs and initiatives to look after the overall development of the children, including academic as well as social (Destination 2010 Guide, 2009). The current spate of crimes that are increasingly traced to the high school premises and may involve students, has caused serious concern for the Education Queensland Department. These incidents indicate that there is a lack of direction among some students that is making them resort to destructive activities. The policy objective of the Education department is to not only to prevent the youths from indulging in these activities, but also to make them take up better and constructive thinking. As such, from the point of view of the Education Department, an assessment of the crime should be done to get the full statistics of the crimes committed and get the profile of the perpetrators. This will enable the Education Department in developing strategies to meet the challenges. Queensland Police Service’s Policy Objective for Crime Prevention To add… Part 2: Plan of Action for Achieving Policy Objectives Each of the above departments have outlined programs and strategies to meet the challenges posed by the increased crimes. 1. Premiers Department or the Lead Department Strategies a. Involvement of all stakeholders in programs of crime prevention The strategies that the Premier Department enacts for meeting the crime in the Ruwa community are along the same lines as developed for the Queensland’s Communities Crime Prevention Strategies. These strategies include involving the local community with the governmental agencies in assessing the reasons and impacts of crimes as well as involving local people in programs aimed at preventing these crimes (Crime Prevention Queensland- Department of the Premier and Cabinet, 2002). b. Encouraging the Safety Audits c. Encouraging Urban Development For Safe Spacces 2. Education Queensland Department Strategies a. Encourage Increased High School Participation The Education policy that ensures that high school participation is increased as well as more students result in graduation has been found to have a direct and positive impact on the reduction of youth crimes related to property destruction (Chapman, et al, 2002). As such, the education department should encourage policies that lead to better participation of the young people in the schools. This can be ensured by modifying course curriculum to make it more engaging and interesting, and by making the schools more friendly to the needs of the young people. b. Educate Parents and Teachers on Crime Prevention The Australian Government’s Institute of Criminology provides extensive information and resources for parents as well as schools to deal with young school going people who are expected to be under tremendous peer pressure and stress (Vassallo et al, 2002). The Institute of Criminology disburses information on managing youth and drug and alcohol usage as well as on responsible celebrations for teenagers. For example, the Schoolies Week or Leavers Week (WA) that is celebrated during the November-December months by the final year school leaving students is a time when the scope of vandalism and bad behavior could increase (The State of Queensland, 2009). During such events, the parents are able to get help from the information and education that they gather by the Australian Institute of Criminology. The Education Department can therefore partner with the Australian Institute of Criminology and make the resources, training programs and other information available at the schools from where the parents and the teachers can easily benefit from them. 3. Queensland Police Service Department Strategies Queensland Police Service Department has focused on community oriented policing strategies in the past years. These strategies are based on the premise that the policing should not be restricted to reporting and follow up after the crime has been committed but should be preventive in nature. Also, police should work closely with the local community to root out the causes of crimes as well as to make the reporting of crime easier and quicker. Under community oriented policing, the department can initiate the following strategies: a. Setting Up Temporary Police Stations in Affected Queensland police department has shown success earlier when it set up shop-fronts in the shopping centers where there were increased incidents of burglary and looting crimes (Taylor and Charltan, 2005). These shop fronts manned policemen within the premise of the shopping center and their availability on the spot ensures that crimes are reduced as well as reporting of crimes is immediate. A similar approach can be used for combating vandalism and property destruction crimes that occur in Ruwa community. The police department can set up small temporary stations with two or three policemen on duty. This strategy is expected to act as a deterrent for people intent upon vandalism. b. Increasing the Scope of Beat Patrolling The police departments across Queensland have increased the scope of beat patrol and use the policemen on beat to interact with the local community regularly (Bond and Gow, 1995).This has lead to an increase in the satisfaction level of the local people and increased confidence of the community in the good intention and commitment of the police. On the similar lines, the police beat patrol is to be increased around the college and school building and other governmental and residential properties. To add… c. Set Up Neighborhood Watch Using Technology - GIS (Johnson et al, 2007 Reference: 1. Taylor, N and K. Charltan2005. ‘Police Shopfronts and Reporting to Police By retailers’. Trends and Issues in Crimes and Criminal Justice No. 295. Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology 2. Bond E. W. C. and D. J. Gow. 1995. Policing the Beat: The Experience in Toowoomba, Queensland. [Online] available at: http://www.popcenter.org/library/crimeprevention/volume_07/06_bond.pdf Retrieved on 11 December 2009. 3. Destination 2010 Guide, 2009 [Online] available online at: http://education.qld.gov.au/strategic/accountability/docs/dest2010.pdf Retrieved on 11 December 2009 4. Homel, P. 2009. ‘Improving crime prevention knowledge and practice’ Trends & issues in crime and criminal justice no. 385 Canberra: Australian Institute of Criminology 5. Resources for researchers, teachers, young people and parents 6. The State of Queensland, 2009. Schooleis November 2009. [Online] available at: http://www.schoolies.qld.gov.au/safety/ Retrieved on 11 December 2009 7. B Chapman, C A Kapuscinski and S Roussel and D Weatherburn and M Chilvers, 2002. Unemployment Duration, Schooling and Property Crime. 8. Vassallo, S., D. Smart, A. Sanson and I. Dussuyer. 2002 ‘Patterns and Precursors of Teenage Anti-social Behaviour’. The Role of Schools in Crime Prevention Conference. Melbourne: Department Education, Employment and Training 9. Johnson SD, Birks DJ, McLaughlin L, Bowers KJ & Pease K 2007. Prospective crime mapping in operational context: final report. London: Home Office 10. ‘Building Safer Communities: A Crime Prevention Manual for Queensland’, 2002. Crime Prevention Queensland- Department of the Premier and Cabinet Read More