Introduction
Potentially, crime is one of the primary challenges on a global scale that affects security. The high level of crime rates has an adverse impact on the welfare of people and the economy of a country. Moreover, crime embodies one of the illegal practices that attract a legal implication when found guilty. The prevention of crime is, therefore, vital for any society that wants to stay peacefully and conduct their operations without fear. This paper brings to the fore a coherent discussion regarding the effect of “fear of crime” on the crime prevention techniques. Besides, the paper highlights the rationale of program planning, its implementation, and assessment.
Fear of Crime
Crime and fear are one of the primary matters of concern globally. For instance, some people develop a phobia to certain crimes compared to others while others may develop a fear of crime at home instead of public places. Some of the factors that contribute to crime include victimization, reporting crime incidents on media, and anecdotal evidence (Simon, 2017). Arguably, most people have encountered crime or have been associated with crime in the past. The above scenario often attracts victimization, which discourages relevant individuals from associating themselves with a crime. Secondly, crime is illegal and may compromise the reputation of a person when convicted. Thirdly, reporting the crime on social media and other public platforms often exposes the criminals into the public by revealing their identities. In particular, the mentioned scenario may make people fear crime due to the adverse effects on their life. Anecdotal evidence depicts the informal gathering on a particular individual and is heavily relied on by the courts for prosecuting. Therefore, some of the people fear crime due to the evidence that can land them in jail.
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Program Planning and Implementation
As precinct commander in the commercial district, crime prevention is vital, and appropriate strategies would focus on reducing theft of motor vehicles from office buildings, retail stores, pay-out parks, and medical facilities. The primary reason why there are increasing cases of robbery in the town includes a relatively higher number of vehicles concentrated in one area, which makes it a hotspot for thieves.
Moreover, there is the lack of a quick response alarm that should get incorporated with the working CCTV cameras to identify suspicious activities in the parking slots. Additionally, a significant number of car owners often forget to install alarm response on their vehicles, which makes it a soft spot for thieves to steal the car (Wikström & Treiber, 2017). Besides, the nature of the area depicts a central business district that contains a huge population. The other primary factors for theft in the area involve the lack of close monitoring of the vehicles parked in the town since most people get busy with their business and work all day long. The police may also fail to ask drivers the vehicle’s logbook and other related identities of the car at the car blocks. Besides, some thieves work in groups and often monitor the movement of the owners to ensure that they are far from their vehicles. Consequently, the thieves surround the car as others break in to steal the goods. The other reason is the perception by the car owners that the vehicle is the safest place to store their goods while in town. For instance, numerous people leave their expensive gadgets in the car, which attracts thieves. Moreover, other individuals keep their sensitive documents like credit cards in cars. The above factors form a hub for thieves to execute their illegal activities in the town.
The primary strategic plan to reduce the crime in the town involves target selection. In essence, this approach entails the focus on a particular area and conducting an appropriate investigation to determine the cause of the crime. The three forms of target selection involve geographical, offensive, and offender targeting.
Geographic targeting involves a focus on a particular location. Moreover, it entails concentrating on the neighborhoods that have high crime rates to conduct a detailed investigation concerning the matter. For instance, the major crime areas in the town include the parking bays, retail stores, and office buildings. The security department will thus embrace hotspot concentrated deployment to assess the security in the city and determine the nature of theft used by the thieves. The primary security challenges involve theft from vehicles, and the above alternative selection will help to reduce crime. The police will strictly focus on the hotbed of burglary and put more emphasis on the office buildings that have numerous cars. The thieves always pretend to be employees, which makes them find ample time to steal from the vehicles (Blomberg, Brancale, Beaver & Bales, 2016).
The second aspect of target selection involves offensive targeting. The approach entails targeting specific offense category in a particular area. The security department would consider targeting the high-end buildings including clubs and companies that have adopted a night shift program. The approach is vital since numerous cases of car thefts happen at night when there are a few people in the streets. The thieves often prefer stealing at night to escape quickly without getting noticed by the security agencies or the public. However, the anti-theft security forces will survey the office buildings and high-end stops in the town from 8 pm to get a tract of the thieves who focus on stealing from the cars.
The third target selection involves the offender targeting criteria. The security directive will enable the police to focus on the offenders and apprehend them as they continue with further investigations concerning the matter. Ultimately, the criminals should face the law and get convicted (Piza & Carter, 2018). The security agencies will also surveil the town in the office buildings, pay-to-park lots, and retail shops to arrest the offenders. The alternative method would focus on detaining the idlers around the high-end car parks to investigate the theft in motor vehicles. However, the primary way of reducing the crime rates involve arresting the suspects, conducting detailed analysis, gathering the evidence, and prosecuting the offenders. The above approach is one of the most aggressive methods of reducing crimes.
Assessment
The program requires 20 officials to execute the task efficiently without any challenge. The town contains approximately 800 residents. In particular, the significant hotspot usually has less than 400 individuals at night. The above statistics imply that every official would monitor 20 individuals. The training and tracking devices available to every security officer would enable them to manage the entire population. The plan also will take into consideration the number of offenders. Previous reports indicate that less than five people out of 40 get convicted of motor vehicle-related crimes. Therefore, five officials would wear civilian clothes and proceed to the spotted areas to assess the scenario and monitor the offenders. Afterward, they will alert their colleagues to back them and provide essential assistance to reduce the crime in the town.
In conclusion, the first invention technique involves a concentration on the hotspots, which include high-end places and office buildings. The second approach consists of targeting the gangs at night when the crime rates are relatively higher compared to day time. Lastly, the third intervention technique involves targeting the offenders in their significant places and detaining them while conducting thorough investigations. The first approach is not efficient since the offenders can resolve to changing their targets from the pay-to-park lots to homes and other familiar places. Secondly, targeting the offenders at a specific time will solve the short-term crisis but will lead to another loophole in the theft crime. Therefore, the most effective strategy involves the focus on arresting the offenders and conducting a thorough investigation.
References
Blomberg, T. G., Brancale, J. M., Beaver, K. M., & Bales, W. D. (Eds.). (2016). Advancing criminology and criminal justice policy . Routledge.
Piza, E. L., & Carter, J. G. (2018). Predicting initiator and near repeat events in spatiotemporal crime patterns: An analysis of residential burglary and motor vehicle theft. Justice Quarterly , 35 (5), 842-870.
Simon, J. (2017). Governing through crime. In Law and Poverty (pp. 97-115). Routledge.
Wikström, P. O. H., & Treiber, K. (2017). Beyond Risk Factors: An Analytical Approach to Crime Prevention. In Preventing Crime and Violence (pp. 73-87). Springer, Cham.
