Abstract
Crime prevention is such a broad term. What is considered a crime? How is our law enforcement deterring crime? How can we work with our law enforcement to help prevent crime? There are many issues that are dealt with on a day to day basis that some people don’t even think about, Crime happens EVERYWHERE. Criminals are all around us. Kids are committing crimes in school by bullying other kids. Social media bullying via the internet. Some communities are working hand in hand with officers around them to create better neighborhoods for the citizens. Programs to reintegrate offenders into the world are deterring criminals from becoming second time offenders. But in person crimes are only the beginning. So many crimes are happening on a day to day basis via the internet, such as bullying, identity theft, extorsion, etc. A lot of prevention all comes down to one thing. Monitoring. Monitor the internet, monitor the streets, monitor hot spots. Police presence deters crime. It’s a proven fact.
Crime has been an ongoing issue for many years. Crime prevention first started back in the 1700s when local improvement Acts were to include establishments for paid watchmen or constables to patrol towns at night to help deter crime such as break ins and robberies. In a country that had nearly one million people residing in it, there were only approximately 450 constables, and roughly 4,500 watchmen. In the early 1800s, it became evident that these watchmen or constables were not as effective as they needed to be. Sir Robert Peel, born in England in 1788, accepted the position of secretary of state for the home department and a seat in the cabinet. Sir Robert Peel immediately went to work on reevaluating and assessing criminal laws. Seven short years later, Sir Robert Peel established the first Metropolitan Police Act, of 1829. This established the first controlled police force for London. During this time, Boston (which was a colony back then) had its own night watchmen set up. It wasn’t until 1838 when Boston finally set up day watchmen. In 1854, the city replaced these watchmen with what became known as the first police department. This department was made up of 250 men.
Crime prevention in todays society has came a long way however, just like police develop new ways to prevent crime, citizens develop new ways to commit crime. The weight of crime prevention doesn’t just weigh on law enforcement. It weighs on the citizens within communities as well. Community oriented policing is a specific way of policing that is not only effective in deterring crime, but it also brings together the law enforcement and the citizens of the community. With community policing, officers are able to work in a specific area in hopes of building relationships with the community in that area. It also allows the citizens to build trust towards the officer, and in turn allows officers to stop crime from happening, before it even begins. Community policing also creates a sense of safety for the community. Actually seeing an officer in the area constantly, knowing they are there, and seeing real time living situations, confrontations, getting to know the areas of which are most likely to have a higher crime rate, it gives the people of the neighborhoods a sense of relief and safety to know this is all happening. Creating this tight knit relationship can help officers find underlying issues of why certain things are happening and find reasonable solutions. Through all of this, you will see the quality of life improving. The only way to make all of this happen is through community involvement. So if no one wants to step up and get involved, then the strategy of community policing wont work.
Being born and raised in a community where you are told daily police officers are bad people, you will know nothing different, unless a police officer proves them wrong. There are countless documented examples of this, but one common scenario is that a child only hears about officers physically assaulting people in his neighborhood, and the only interaction this child has ever had with police officers was watching them arrest his father. Even though this child's father was a drug dealer being arrested for murdering an innocent civilian during a shoot-out with a rival gang, all this child knows now is that the 'bad guys' took away his father forever.
The previously stated scenario is all too common in the areas where community policing will be best served. If this child were to see police officers in his neighborhood playing basketball, walking the streets, and interacting with people, his outlook on our profession may be changed. Community Policing is not the 'end all be all' but if properly applied and executed, it can be an effective tool in crime prevention.
With that in mind, another part of crime prevention is pro-active policing. Some may view this as the complete opposite of community policing, but it is far from it. With the proper training and application, these two can work hand in hand leading to dramatic lowering of crimes against persons and property in your jurisdiction. Pro-active policing is more than going into an area and conducting traffic stops on every vehicle you observe commit a traffic violation. With the contacts and trust you built from effective Community Policing, information provided by the citizens allows the police officers to pinpoint locations as 'hot spots' and certain individuals as 'targets'.
Pro-active policing can be described as targeting areas of concern within a community, and conducting a 'show of force' which makes it clear to those who wish to commit crimes that police are in the area. Unfortunately, many police officers would rather simply be call responsive. This would be obviously referred to as 'Reactive policing', and is detrimental to any progress a department has made within a community. As I previously stated multiple times, this will lead to the children and adults only seeing police officers performing their duties, which is often making an arrest or issuing a citation.
Taking a step back and looking at each, it can be said that Community Policing is actually, Pro-Active Policing. Making this connection may be confusing to those who are not in Law Enforcement, but easy for police officers who understand each. Being proactive in your communities and building positive relationships with those who live there is the building blocks of Community Policing. Building these relationships and generating informants is also a large part of Pro-Active policing. All of which leads to crime prevention.
Breaking this down even further, what is crime prevention? Depending on who you are and your way of thinking, the definition could greatly vary. To some, Crime Prevention is police going into problem areas with an iron fist and putting everyone in jail. If all the criminals are in jail, there won't be anyone to commit crimes right? Wrong, first of all it not feasible to put everyone in jail, and in doing so, the financial burden on taxpayers only becomes worse. This then turns right back into damaging the areas you are sworn to protect. Once again, putting everyone in jail for whatever offenses arise, puts police officers in the negative spotlight and ruins relationships built by departments. There is no magic formula for crime prevention, nor should we attempt to find one. The only way to effectively prevent crimes is the proper application and execution of community policing and proactive policing. The goal of each and every department should be to bridge the gap between its citizens and police officers. Community members should view police officers as someone who they can call to protect them, or lead them through one of the worst days of their lives. Police officers should also view the members of the community as someone they are able to help, rather than figuring out ways to take someone to jail. Sometimes writing a citation, or issuing a warning for a minor offense can pay off endlessly in the future for the officer.
Showing compassion and respect to offenders and citizens builds the relationships stated throughout this paper. Writing that 'thug' a ticket for simple possession of marijuana or driving under suspension, will show him that you are not like all the other officers he has dealt with in the past. In doing so, the next time you see the guy walking down the street, he initiates a conversation with you. During this conversation, he informs you of a possible crime that is upcoming, or of a subject dealing drugs in the area. Regardless of his intentions, he respects and trusts you enough to provide you with intelligence. Again, this is an effective application and execution of Community Policing with Proactive Policing.
Crime prevention in todays society has came a long way however, just like police develop new ways to prevent crime, citizens develop new ways to commit crime. The weight of crime prevention doesn’t just weigh on law enforcement. It weighs on the citizens within communities as well. Community oriented policing is a specific way of policing that is not only effective in deterring crime, but it also brings together the law enforcement and the citizens of the community. With community policing, officers are able to work in a specific area in hopes of building relationships with the community in that area. It also allows the citizens to build trust towards the officer, and in turn allows officers to stop crime from happening, before it even begins. Community policing also creates a sense of safety for the community. Actually seeing an officer in the area constantly, knowing they are there, and seeing real time living situations, confrontations, getting to know the areas of which are most likely to have a higher crime rate, it gives the people of the neighborhoods a sense of relief and safety to know this is all happening. Creating this tight knit relationship can help officers find underlying issues of why certain things are happening and find reasonable solutions. Through all of this, you will see the quality of life improving. The only way to make all of this happen is through community involvement. So if no one wants to step up and get involved, then the strategy of community policing wont work.
Another way to prevent crime would be hot spotting. Police use this tactic often. Hot spotting is when police target areas and activities where crime is more likely to happen over others. Taking the focus of police and aiming them towards hot spot areas is more likely to reduce crime than patrolling neighborhoods where there is very little criminal activity. This doesn’t mean officers stop patrolling other locations or disappear from being seen elsewhere. It just means that police departments will take a limited amount of resources and focus them in those areas, while they still designate others to the rest of the locations.
Other ways that crime can be prevented is stop and frisk, third party policing, etc. But what if we look in the opposite direction? When people are released from prison, a majority end up committing a crime again and going back to prison. Helping ex-offenders find stability in the community, work, and a way of life can help a lot. Individuals who are released from prison, or even jail after a long period of time, don’t have anything to do. They get bored. They continue with the only way of life they know. Having programs that help reintegrate ex-offenders back into everyday life will reduce first time offenders from becoming second time offenders, and so on. Supplying more surveillance cameras can make a huge difference as well.
Setting cameras up around town can deter criminals from committing a crime due to the likelihood of being caught. Surveillance footage is almost a guarantee charge. Having surveillance cameras set up around the community and on the streets is in a way, like having more officers on the streets. Adding more officers to the streets will also deter criminals from committing crimes. It is also said that if officers respond quicker to 911 calls, they will be more likely to make an arrest. If an individual knows there is more of a chance of being caught or being arrested, they may choose not to commit the crime. Of course none of these preventative options are going to be 100% effective, however, anything helps.
Not all crime happens on the streets though. Not all crime is related to break ins. Officers don’t make all their arrests via patrol. Crime happens on the internet too. But what kind? Some criminal activity that takes place over the internet or on computer is bullying/harassment, financial extortion, bomb threats, data theft, copyright violations, etc. The most common internet crime today is phishing/spoofing. This is when someone unlawfully accesses a computer without proper authorization, and sends emails, all with the intent to deceive the recipients. This is actually highly illegal, and can cost you up to five years in prison. Blackmail and/or extortion. This is when someone uses the internet to threaten to cause damage to someone’s with intent to extort money or something of value from them. How do we prevent crimes like these? The FBI spends hours training employees on cyberattack awareness. Where the FBI deals with bigger crimes committed via the internet, there are ways of which you can help prevent smaller ones, like listed above. Internet crime prevention can be prevented by ensuring that antivirus software and anti-malware are up to date and are conducting regular scans. You can also manage the use of privileged accounts. Monitoring accounts can help abnormalities stand out. One of the last focuses discussed here is identity theft. Identity theft has been happening for decades. The FBI has been combating it for years. In 1998, the Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act was passed. Shortly thereafter, the 2004 Identity Theft Penalty enhancement Act was passed as well by congress. These acts made it a federal crime to knowingly transfer for use without lawful authority, and established penalties for aggravated identity theft.
Based on all of this information, crime prevention is in the works, and just like anything, as technology develops, so do criminals. New ways to commit crimes arise, and new criminals develop. It is extremely important that we monitor the younger generations and set them up for a successful life. The younger generation is highly impressionable, and by setting better examples for the them to follow, we reduce the probability of criminal behavior. I strongly believe that parents and the upbringing of children is a key factor in crime prevention. A lot of the issues law enforcement are dealing with today stem from troubled kids who don’t know any better, or young adults who lost their way.
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