Police crime control policies
Crime control is paramount for the economic development of any civilized society. The political stability of any nation is measured by the crime rate. Countries that have low crime rates are more attractive to investors and business leaders. The crime rate in the United States of America was high in the 1990s. The cities were controlled by criminal gangs and at times the fights between criminal gangs took place in the streets. The frequency of homicides was relatively high. The residential places were not spared from crime related violence. Law enforcement officers were criticized for being weaklings. The police and other law enforcement agents embraced technology in combating crime. Law enforcement officers were able to detect crime faster than in the 1990s. The change had also been reflected the economic sphere when the United States of America ranked first in the global investment index.
Law enforcement agencies are using sophisticated modern technology to detect and combat crime. While some cities are using drones to detect crime, others have incorporated simple devices such as number plate sensors to control the level of crime. The state of New Orleans adopted the Gun shoot spotter. The system that was funded by the FBI is designed to detect the location where a gunshot takes place. Small gunshot detectors are installed in the buildings and residential houses. The moment a gunshot takes place; the sensors sent a message to the main system at the law enforcement agency. The location is then identified in relation to the geographical location of the sensor.
The Memphis Police Department has adopted the Blue Crime Reduction Utilizing Statistical History. The software creates a multilayer map of crime using the data provided stored in the department’s database. In controlling the rate of traffic crimes, the department has adopted the Photo radar detector. The gadgets are located in GPS controlled vehicles. The gadget takes a photo of a speeding car. Instantaneously, the penalty is processed, and the speeding ticket is disseminated to the owner of the car.
Innovations in technology have also contributed to the decline in the crime rates. Auto theft has drastically declined in the last two decades. The commission of crimes has been hampered by the innovations in the surveillance. Car immobilizers have made it difficult for car hijackers to victimize automobile owners. The environmental design of the automobiles has also contributed in the drastic decline of car theft. By adopting new technology, the law enforcement officers have bought the cult of victimization to a grounding halt. The credit also goes to the mobile phone companies such as Apple and Samsung that have made mobile phones be available to the majority of Americans. Criminals fear that that people will take pictures and submit to the law enforcement agencies. More Americans can dial 911 on their mobile phones.
The criminal Justice system has worked hand in glove with the law enforcement agencies. The courts have stipulated tough penalties for criminal offenders. The tough sentencing rules have derailed many criminal activities. The Federal Sentencing Board drafted the sentencing guidelines that have reduced the frequency of crimes in America. By 2011, the numbers of prisoners were as high as six million. The United States of America has the highest number of adults confined in prisons than any other country in the globe. The facilities in both state and federal prisons became constrained. Currently, the majority of the prisons are holding more prisoners than they were initially designed to accommodate. The courts believed that the incapacitating effects of prison will deter them from committing crimes. Social scientist, however, argue that prisons only serves to rehabilitate few prisoners. Inmates strengthen criminal ties in prison, which hinders them from pursuing economically viable options. Social scientist, however, argue that mass incarceration injures the society more than it shields the society from criminals by locking them behind prison dungeons. Proponents of the mass release of the mass release of prisoners argue that the correctional facilities are overpopulated and also a burden to the economy. The supreme court of the United States rules that the release of prisoners should not be delayed in California.
The mass release of prisoners is am move aimed at protecting the constitutional rights of the prisoners. States such as Alabama were trying to solicit more funds to provide additional facilities to avoid the mass release of prisoners. The criminals who burglarized homes and victimized people will be released back into the society. Criminologists argue that the release of prisoners will create an avalanche of criminal-activities in the society. The mass release is a move that will counter the gains that have been made by law enforcement agencies over time. The presence of criminal in the streets will increase the rate of the unemployed in the society. The former inmates will seek ways to earn income. It would be reasonable to conclude that the freed inmates will result to the same unlawful means that got them in prison. On the contrary, the Great Recession of 2008 did not augur with an increase in the crime rate.
The advancement in the field of DNA profiling has made it possible for a forensic expert in the law enforcement agencies to track down elusive criminals. In DNA profiling, forensic experts identify the set of letters that identify the unique genetic make-up of a person. Criminal investigators use full human genome sequencing to identify the exact identity of a suspect. The advancement in the field of human genome identification has ensured that our cities are safer, and justice is done in courts. There is a growing concern that some people can have similar DNA sequence. Lawyers have had a difficult time in court to convince the members of the jury that in a group of sixty million people, only twelve of them might have similar gene sequence. By 2007, the United States of America had the largest DNA databank with over five million samples. The authorities use the DNA database and the combined DNA index system to identify criminally and solve complex crimes.
DNA evidence has also been used to beat the criminal justice system. Dr. John Scheeberger in 1991 raped one of his patients and left a trail of fake DNA evidence in her underwear. The doctor had injected himself Penrose drain into his body and filled it with foreign blood. He added ant I coagulants into the Penrose drain to conceal his DNA identity. The criminal investigators collected the DNA evidencing the patients’ underwear only to turn out wrong three times.
In Europe, the Police detectors found the same DNA sample in Germany, Austria and France. In the same case of Phantom of Heilbronn, Police detectives found that the DNA collected belonged to the body of a churned woman who was seeking asylum in France. A company located in Austria was responsible for making the cotton wool. The police detectives found out that the cotton wool had minute DNA samples. The criminals initially thought that the cotton wool was sterile, and the minute DNA samples could not be traced.
The fifty states in America have enacted laws that require DNA samples to be taken from prisoners. When the prisoners are convicted and sent to prison, the correctional facility collects the DNA sample and feeds it to the Combined DNA index System (CODIS). The state of California was the first state to implement a new program of familial DNA searching. Hos program allows the law enforcement agencies to identify the DNA samples of the offenders who are not in the DNA Databank. The process involves the identification of the possible relatives of the offender. In Colorado, the first familial DNA search and conviction took place. The other states consequently implemented the same into their criminal justice system. Familial DNA search helped in the capture of a serial killer who had eluded the authorities for over two decades. The DNA sample from the Grim Sleeper’s son was in the instrumental in the capture of a serial killer in 2010. The use of DNA technology has helped deter criminal activities in many states of the United States of America. However, the DNA database labs suffer from a heavy backlog of work. The current facilities should be improved to match the current advancement in modern technology. New Forensic lab should be constructed to support the ones that are already operational.
The accelerated parole programs allow first time offenders to serve lesser prison terms than they had been sentenced to. An inmate has to qualify for the accelerated parole program to qualify before he or she is enrolled into the program. The parole program does not necessarily mean that the prisoner is free. It also differs significantly from mandatory supervision programs. If the enlistee violates s the terms of the parole program agreement, the offender is returned back to prison to serve his remaining term. The congress had abolished the Parole activities in 1984 through the comprehensive crime control Act of 1984. The responsibility of dealing and funding parole activities was relinquished from the federal government. The majority of the states have eliminated parole activities for those serving life sentences. The mandate of parole activities is vested on parole boards. The Parole Board interviews the applicants. If an applicant qualifies, he is assigned to a parole officer. The parole officer makes surprise visits to the inmate to assess his or her conduct.
If the inmate begins to engage in illegal activities, the parole terms is stopped. The enlistee is tried before the parole violation hearing. The certificate is terminated and the inmate and consequently taken back to prison. The Legal framework of the United States parole Commission has been under contestant revision. The commission was abolished in 1992 by reviving the following year. The congress seems to be undecided on the expiry date of the United States Parole Commission.
Correctional facilities harden the lives of first time criminal offenders. Prisons allow first time offenders to make very strong criminal connections that deter them from pursuing other economically viable options once they are released. The cognitive desistance to crime is completely eroded if the remain in prison for a long. Their conception of the world is permanently altered. Our criminal justice system predates on the inmates. The suspected offenders are churned and transformed into full-blown criminals. The Parole Boards impede the process of hard core criminal formation. First time offenders are not given enough time to buy into the propaganda of veteran law breaker. The parole also removes the financial burden of maintaining prisoners in prison. Inmates are released faster and integrated into the society.
Crime in schools goes unnoticed. Most of the unconscionable acts of violence among the youngsters are swept below the educational rug. The National center for Education indicates that the 1.5 million students were victims of nonfatal crimes. Eighty five percent of the schools experience violent crimes. If the crime rate is high among youngsters than the society that natures them is also plagued by waves of crime. Crimes I school have become of great concern to the majority of the Americans. The recent gun shooting in schools has awakened the conscious of the society. Schools management boards have tightened the security of their schools. Visitors to the schools have limited privileges. Their activities are closely monitored by the school security. Both the visitors and the students are screened at the entrance for the presence of offensive weapons.
Disciplinary measures are taken against the students who violate these regulations. Visitors coming to schools are not allowed into the residential areas. Their luggage is inspected to ensure that they do not peddle drugs into the school. The school administration owes the student the duty of providing security for the students. Learning is supposed to be conducted in a safe place free from all forms of violence and intimidation. If the students are exposed to crime at tender age, the probability of developing criminal tendencies increases exponentially. The majority of the young people are in schools. Crime prevention in schools should be the priority of all law enforcement agencies, state government and the federal government, as well. The campus police have incorporated new technology in addressing the security concerns in the institutions. They have metal detectors that detect the presence of weapons. Surveillance cameras have been installed in most of the schools in California to monitor the schools.
Law enforcement department sin the United states of America have embarked have embarked on a mission to reduce the number of firearms in the public. The rise of gun violence has become a subject of concern to state governments and the federal governments. When offensive weapons are easily accessible to the public, the proliferation of criminal gangs becomes difficult for the law enforcement agencies to curb. Gun buyback programs have been rolled out in most of the states to eliminate illegal guns from the streets. It allows the citizens to sell privately owned guns to the police without the risk of prosecution.
In 2012, an anonymous donor funded the no questions asked campaign in California, Oakland and San Francisco. Any firearm that was bought was exchanged with two one hundred dollar bills. The firearm sellers were required to provide with identification details to show that they were not from other areas. The guns were inspected to ensure that they were not counterfeit. The guns were registered, and their serial numbers noted down. A total of 700 guns were bought that day. In 2012, 1137 guns were bought by the New Jersey police department. In Arizona, a house bill was signed into law that allowed the law enforcement officers to collect illegal firearms from the public. The Criminal Investigation officers collected the guns and destroyed them to avoid getting into the wrong hands.
The decrease in crime, in the cities of America can be attributed to the concerted efforts of police officers to combat crime. Crime control policies are based on the slogans of the politicians. The law enforcement agencies should be based on crime control theories. The rational choice theory of crime indicates that people make conscious decisions to commit crimes fully aware of the consequences of crime. Criminals make unpopular decisions against social rewards. Most crime control policies are based on this criminological theory.
Social, organizational theory argues that those who commit crime are influenced by the environment and the quality of upbringing. The primary environment determines whether the criminal behavior of the citizens. Several crime control measure that have been adopted since 2000 fall under this category. Graffiti cameras are installed in streets to capture information of those people who vandalize property. The cameras act to reduce the numbered cases involving graffiti drawing in building. The graffiti cameras operate under the theory that the criminal gangs use graffiti to communicate. The graffiti cameras come into reduce the number of graffiti drawn per year. Consequently, the communication between criminal gangs is disrupted, and the fights seen in the streets between criminal gangs in broad daylight reduced.
Law enforcers use thermal imaging to locate a fleeing fugitive. These devices have several uses among them the location of a lost child especially during winter. The device utilizes the thermal spectrum of the electromagnetic spectrum. Signals are sent to a nonintrusive device. The device has helped the law enforcement community to reduce the crime rates in areas that crime prone. The thermal signatures left on the ground, which are unique to a particular person, are interpreted by thermal magnetic devices to provide crucial information to the law enforcement officers.
The law enforcement community has adapted the use of language translators to tackle those criminals who do not communicate in English. The application of social control theories has led to the mass incarceration of six million United States Citizens. The social control theory is based on deterring law breakers and potential wrongdoers from committing crimes. BY 2010 America had more prisoners than any other country in the globe. The mass incarceration led to the constraint of prison facilities and poor prison conditions.
In the 1990s New York had the highest crime rates in the United States. It was considered as the hub of mafia organization and drug lords. The media constantly reported incidences of people losing their lives due to crime related activities. The police worked hand in glove with the people of the state of New York to eliminate crime. Police were positioned in crime prone areas and by 2009; the state of New York was ranked as having the most crime free cities in the United States of America. In states such as Colorado and California, technology has played an instrumental role in reducing crime, but in New York, the concerted efforts of law enforcement officers made the city almost crime free.
References
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