Community policing

Crime-Reduction Strategies

             In the past, the police department has been using the standard model in reducing crime, disorder, and fear.  This model focus on traditional law enforcement where the police agencies concentrate on enforcing the law, arrest, and punishment for controlling crime. This model is criticized in that rather than promoting public safety, it is concerned with the allocation of police services (Weisburd & Eck, 2004). However, the article has provided new innovations that are effective in crime reduction.  Recent innovations have come up with strategies that are effective in reducing crime and that are beyond the traditional model of policing. The first strategy is hot-spots policing. This is a new approach that aims at preventing and reducing crime by focusing on a specific geographical area or targeting a specific area where the level of crime is high and locating resources in these areas to combat crime (Weisburd & Eck, 2004.  Hot-spot policing relate to crime reduction effectiveness in that as police concentrate on one area where crime such as drug offenses and property crime is high, police are able to offer tailored responses such as increasing patrol visits, disrupting situational dynamics and arresting offenders.

 The second strategy is Problem-oriented policing- this strategy is beyond the traditional model of policing as it aims at focusing on specific problems and developing strategies to deal with the identified problem. The practices are beyond the traditional law informant powers as police need to identify the root cause of the crime, implement interventions and apply community resources and power from civil statutes (Weisburd & Eck, 2004). Problem-oriented policing is related to crime reduction effectiveness in that police employ a problem-solving model which is based on identifying the problem, analyzing the factors that lead to the occurrence of the problem, implementing interventions and assessing if the intervention worked.

In dealing with the crime of burglary, I would employ the principles of problem-oriented policing that are based on focusing on the problem.  In using the problem-oriented policing, first, I would identify the crime (burglary), investigate the factors that cause the occurrence of the crime, implement interventions to address the factor that cause the crime and assess the value of the implemented responses (Weisburd & Eck, 2004). These different forms will help reduce crime since I will focus on the array of things such as the offender, the place, the victim and the factors that contribute to the crime. Identifying the problems, consequences, and frequency, figuring out why the problem occurs, selecting a response and evaluating whether the response worked is all that I need to reduce crime.

 

 

Reference

Weisburd, D., & Eck, J. E. (2004). What can police do to reduce crime, disorder, and fear?. The Annals of

the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 593(1), 42-65.