Car Prowls

Assignment 2: Effects of crime and how the public services support victims and witnesses of crime

The criminal justice system is often criticized for re-victimizing victims of crime. What changes could the “system” make in order to minimize the re-victimizationexperience for victims of crime? Include examples from the criminal justice system, victim services and the

City Heights East is divided by many different ethnicities. There is 54.3% Hispanic, 20.9% Asian, 15% Black, 7.3% White, 2.2% mixed, and 0.3% other. With this data we can see that there is is range of different ethnicities and not one fully overrides other. This is a diverse community with some great cultures throughout. With this comes crime. With a total of about 30 assaults in the past year, there needs to be a sense of community rather than a sense of territory. Within this sections it will review the cost of living, the employment rates, the school’s, and the community organization. These are all important when looking at a specific crime and how to improve it within the community.

Effective tactics and Strategies of enforcement that focus on visible street crime or “quality of Life” crimes.

When we have a large pattern of thefts we normally inform patrol of the thefts and the patterns that surround the thefts via bulletins that are passed throughout the police department. During that time it will be discussed in briefing and after briefing ends the officers will conduct patrol checks in the areas that are focused in the bulletin at a set day of week, time of day and/or location to suppress those activities and/or capture a suspect(s) that are committing said crime(s). (I. Singh, personal communication, April 12, 2017)

On Tuesday, September 29, 2015, I, Officer B. McMillon, #135, of the Mansfield ISD Police Department was on assignment at Legacy High School located at 1263 N. Main in Mansfield, Texas 76063. While leaving the 2nd floor AP’s office, I observed Smith, Taylor W/F, D.O.B. 09101999 slap Wells, Sydney W/F, D.O.B 08291999 in her face and they begin to engage in a physical altercation.

Recent surveys have indicated that crime rate in the United States is on the rise. Crime in the U.S. is classified into property crime and violent crime. These criminal activities have a considerable impact on a state’s social and economic growth and development. Different states in the U.S. have developed different strategies to combat crime, which continues to transform in form and frequency. A number of policies, options, and approaches to crime control exist. This report explores some of the policies, options, and approaches that could be used by Florida to enhance crime control.

The Broken Windows theory predicts that police can most effectively fight crime by focusing their efforts on targeting disorder, minor crimes and nuisance behaviors. The theory has had a positive impact, but has also raised some challenges. The police can play a key role in disrupting this process. If they focus in on disorder and less serious crime in neighborhoods that have not yet been overtaken by serious crime, they can help reduce fear and resident withdrawal.

First, the main issue with these crimes is that nothing is getting done about the burglaries, graffiti, and break ins. Each year there are about fifteen crimes taking place in the neighborhood of Liberty Greens; the summer of 2015 had the highest rate as a crime was taking place almost weekly. Are these crimes going to continue to rise each year? We moved into this neighborhood in the summer of 2005 and since then there have been crimes year after year. One member of the neighborhood, Becky Koporc says, “Bikes were stolen out of our garage the year we moved in, 2006.” Yet crimes are still happening now in 2016. Why? Our neighborhood isn’t being monitored correctly. Not only have these crimes been happening for over ten years, but they have happened at every

Beginning in the 1990’s, crime numbers began to fall and and there are many explanations for the decrease in crime. To begin, the police began using new catching approaches by changing aspects such as an increase in enforcement of nuisance activities. Additionally, they began to invest in their technology and started to identify crime hot spots. The hot spots are where crime is found most often but never recognized.

Problem oriented policing is geared toward solving problems. The first step in problem oriented policing is the identification and selection of a problem. One method of identifying, analyzing and selecting a problem is known as SARA. The acronym SARA stands for scanning, analysis, response, and assessment (Cronkhite, 2013). The Center for Problem Oriented Policing has several problem-specific guides for different problems that police and a community may face. The guides cover a variety of subjects ranging from burglary to gas drive offs. Each guide discusses the problem and factors involved and offers suggestions derived from police report and research of the problem (Center for Problem-Oriented Policing, n.d.).

For the past decades, the United State criminal justice system have gone through many changes. As police departments grown so do the crimes in our communities. Law enforcements officers and few scholars have tried to figure out the cause of crimes. Moreover, what need to be done to reduce limit crimes in urban neighborhoods across the United states.

Third to combat this horrendous type of crime is communication and unity. We need to unite as a community and really get involved with our neighbors. Communication within the community can do a lot to guard against these types of crimes. The unknown can be detrimental to society. If we don’t know what to look for, we will always be blindsided by an attacker. Sexual predators play on our complacent state of mind. People don’t want to believe that their neighbors could be sexual predators. Nice neighborhoods don’t dictate the kind of crimes that will occur within it. Upscale neighborhoods make the community feel safe and secure. It is this false sense of security that sexual predators look for within a community.

Thefts from vehicle were up 22.1% compared to 2001-2015 median and saw the highest amount since 2002. Vehicle break-ins were noticeable throughout the city, but crime sprees of multiple vehicle break-ins in neighborhoods and hotel parking lots near the interstate continued to be a problem. The most concerning to the department were the number of guns being stolen with at least 59 reported. The department also saw thefts of purses/wallets at gym and park locations due to the victims sometimes leaving these items in their vehicle while exercising. These thefts led to identity theft, credit card fraud, and forged checks. Vehicles most often broken into in Rock Hill were the Honda Accord, Toyota Camry, Ford trucks (F-150, 250- particularly popular for gun thefts) and the Jeep Grand Cherokee. Unlocked vehicles are an issue and the department continues to try and work with neighborhoods, businesses and apartment complexes on reminders to lock vehicles and to bring valuables inside at night. White males were most often victimized and black males were most often the suspect. Age of suspects vary, from juveniles to individuals in their 40’s. Vehicle break-in’s rose throughout the year with November/December accounting for 24.6% of the entire year’s incidents. Highest neighborhoods in 2016 were Bristol Park, Triangle, South Central, Stonewall, Davidson Woods and East Town.

The hypothesis claims that “changes in routine activity patterns can influence crime rates by affecting the convergence in space and time of the three minimal elements of direct-contact predatory violations” and that “the absence of any one of these elements [motivated offenders, suitable targets, and the absence of suitable guardians against a violation] is sufficient to prevent the successful completion of a direct-contact predatory crime.” (1) The authors claim that controls for routine activities, therefore, are essential to maintaining order and keeping the crime rate down. They also note that and understanding of temporal and spatial relationships are key to understanding the changing crime rates. Illegal acts are events that occur in space and time and involve specific persons and/or objects. The spatio-temporal organization of everyday activities is what allows criminals to turn their criminal ideas into reality. Dispersion of activities away from the household has led to a change in the spatio-temporal relationship that increases the opportunity for crime, which in turn increases the crime rate itself.