Overview
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) is one of the largest and busiest police departments in the United States. Specifically, it is the third-largest municipal police department in the US after the New York Police Department, and the Chicago Police Department. It has a capacity of 2,869 civilian staff and 9,988 police officers. With the more than 10 million residents in the hugely urban county, one can expect high crime rates, as well as victimization cases. Berger (2018) conducted a study to establish the responses of the residents on their perceptions about crime cases in Los Angeles. They established that Black residents and Middle Eastern residents felt the most unsafe, while Asian communities felt the safest overall. Besides, most of the residents who were interviewed reported that they had been the target of one or more crimes since they moved to Los Angeles, with the most prevalent type of crime being robbery.
According to a report released by the Neighborhood Scout (2018), there were approximately 29,230 violent crimes in Los Angeles in 2017 and more than 101,165 property crimes. The violent crimes comprised of 2,386 rapes, 294 homicides, 16,066 assaults and 10,484 robberies. In regard to property crimes, there were 19,024 motor vehicle thefts, 16,050 burglaries, and 66,091 thefts. Evidently, these are many crimes, which LAPD has to deal with in a year. Police officers are generally required to maintain law and order, but that is only in the abstract sense. In reality, police officers have more responsibilities, especially in helping in the prosecution of law offenders. Therefore, the police officers in LAPD not only help in the prevention of crime, but also have to apprehend criminals, carry out investigations and ensure justice is served.
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LAPD deals with a lot of cases per day. On a typical day, the department receives thousands of calls and numerous reports (Reston, & Rubin, 2009). On the same note, the department has to work with other police departments in California, especially in cases of serial or highly sensitive crimes. It is necessary that LAPD automates its information storage and communication system to improve on its efficiency to serve the increasing Los Angeles population better. Already, the department has been accused of cases of racism and corruption, and has to demonstrate that they provide fair services to everybody regardless of their racial, ethnic or cultural backgrounds (Smith, & Mather, 2017).
Proposal
LAPD needs to acquire modern information storage and communication equipment to improve on their service delivery. Specifically, the equipment should comprise of computers with high processing speeds and larger memories, as well as surveillance systems around the police department. Technology is advancing rapidly around the world, and in many aspects, and police departments should not be exceptions. Currently, LAPD uses a manual system of files, where police officers record information on paper and store them in files. The department has a record-keeping section with numerous files arranged in order of their numbers. That means that for every crime that is reported, a new file is opened. Secondly, if information of a particular law offender or crime needs to be updated, officers in the record-keeping section have to locate manually the file among numerous piles. In regard to communication, there is no centralized communication system. One has to visit specific departments within the police station to check on the progress of various cases. For instance, there are departments that handle homicide cases, rape, violent robbery, car theft, among others. The overall police boss has to summon the heads of specific departments to get updated on the cases.
There are many challenges with the current storage and communication system at LAPD. Firstly, the lack of a coordinated communication system often leads to conflicting information. The various heads of departments might give different responses on similar cases, hence present a bad public image. Secondly, sometimes cases may be related. For example, an offender may commit robbery offence in one location and rape in another. If the departments carry out the cases in isolation, they may take a long time to trace the offender. However, if there is a centralized communication system and it is discovered, through evidence, that the same person may have committed the two crimes, there is better collaboration and it may take a shorter time to trace the offender. Besides, resources may be saved because there will be no duplication of tasks.
In regard to the current storage system at LAPD, the manual storage is tedious and consumes time. The time taken to locate files may delay justice and even encourage corruption. A police officer may be paid by a suspect to hide their files or destroy the evidence. Consequently, dangerous criminals may be set free. Secondly, the manual system takes up a lot of space, bearing in mind the number of cases that are reported daily. Thirdly, the manual system is vulnerable to accidents such as fire and other physical agents. In such events, a lot of crucial information may be destroyed, which could likely lead to obstruction of justice.
How the Proposed System Will Work
All information will be stored on computers. The information on files will be transferred to computers. One of the strengths of LAPD is that it already has space for the new system; the file storage rooms. Therefore, it will only entail replacing the file system with the computerized storage system. The information recorded on the computers will comprise that of offenders, as well as both police and civilian officers working at the police station. The computer system will have a centralized database, where senior police officers can access all cases, and monitor their progress. Officers at the reporting desk will record the cases according to their nature, and through a remote system, the information will be channeled to the respective departments. The system will be designed in a manner that identifies and displays cases according to their duration, that is, new or old cases. Besides, there will be a remainder system to ensure that every case is dealt with. The new system will allow updating of information through simple searches. Additionally, it will allow better planning and monitoring. For instance, it will display the number of officers on duty in the specific departments and those off duty. Important information such as the officers’ current contacts will be displayed to allow automatic calls whenever there is an emergency. That means the officers can be contacted at once through an automated system. Additionally, the storage system will be automated and updated from time to time to display the number of offenders at the police cells, those who might have been taken to hospital, and those taken to court.
Budget
Costs will mainly be incurred in purchasing equipment, hiring experts, and training the police officers to operate the equipment. The cost of one computer with high processing speed and a good storage memory (more than 2 terabytes) is approximately $1,000. LAPD will require 50 of such computers to deal with the high work volume. $20,000 can be used to purchase and install the surveillance systems while another $20,000 can be used to hire experts and train the police officers to use the new system. $10,000 can be used to cover the cost of miscellaneous tasks such as installing furniture, purchase of computer software, as well as repair and maintenance.
References
Berger, R. (2018). Crime in Greater Los Angeles: Experiences and Perceptions of Local Urban Residents. Current Urban Studies , 6 (02), 260.
Neighborhood Scout. (2018). Los Angeles Crime Rates and Statistics. https://www.neighborhoodscout.com/ca/los-angeles/crime
Reston, M., & Rubin, J. (2009). Los Angeles to pay $13 million to settle May Day melee lawsuits. Accessed January 15, 2019 from http://articles.latimes.com/2009/feb/05/local/me-lapd-settlement5
Smith, D., & Mather, K. (2017). L.A. residents' frustration with rising crime is a challenge for Garcetti's reelection bid. Accessed January 15, 2019 from https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-garcetti-crime-20170223-story.html
