Most Impact Units
Narcotics and Vice
The Narcotics and Vice Unit is responsible for investigations concerning the illegal consumption of controlled substances within the assigned jurisdiction (Ricart, 2018). The unit applies undercover operations to track individuals involved in illegal gambling and distribution of illegal drugs, prostitution among other related crimes. The unit encompasses a team of approximately ten members: 6 detectives and 4 ICE Officers. This unit was picked for two major reasons: the reported crimes involve robbing drug shops, thus, there is a high likelihood (subject to investigation) that stolen drugs are stimulants, if not, there exists black market business for stolen drugs whose buyers might be abusers of the same. Therefore, this team will track down the players in the possible network and make arrests.
Juvenile
The Juvenile Investigations Unit encompasses a team of approximately 12 detectives with two operational shifts on a daily basis. Within the unit, part of the team help protect the public schools, others deal with child criminal cases, and others child protective duties. However, all detectives are available and under duty to respond to call-in emergencies regarding any of the mentioned cases: juvenile offender’s crimes, status offenses, social issues, and ordinance violations. The crime mentioned in these cases mostly involve the youth and young people who might fall within the age bracket that defines the jurisdiction of juvenile detectives. Therefore, for children involved in the robberies, weapons during the crime acts, and drugs too, juvenile detectives will be needed.
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Communication Unit (911 center)
The 911 Communication Unit is the core of this operation. The 911 centre is charged with the responsibility of maintaining the 9-1-1 lines for emergency calls to report crime in progress among other emergencies such as fire. In most cases, the line is used for life and death situations where urgency is needed. Officers on the line usually inquire about the location of the incident, the nature of emergency, and call back numbers. Based on relayed information, appropriate action is taken, mostly, officers are sent to the location of crime. In this case, since the crime area is already a hot location, any 911 call would be responded to with utter urgency by sending officers to action.
Crimes against Property Unit
The Crimes Against Property Unit is responsible for investigation into crimes that involve theft of property including burglaries and robberies in residential and commercial spaces. Detectives in this unit have the duty to interrogate potential suspects, victims as well as witnesses to these crimes, maintain the notes, and assist in prosecution of the cases. After completion of investigation, these detectives have the power to make arrests as authorized by warrants, and ultimately work to recover stolen property. This unit will be essential in this case because robberies involved reported burglaries and furthermore, the crimes committed were on commercial spaces. Since making arrests in real-time has been hard, this team will be critical for related investigation and tracking of the offenders, as well as recovering stolen goods.
Uniformed Patrol Unit
The Uniform Patrol Unit has the duty to reinforce law enforcement activities that ensure prevailing peace, prevention of crime, and protection of property and lives within a specified neighborhood (Mijares, 2008). Patrol officers are trained to be highly responsive to emergency calls to crime areas where they conduct investigation, arrest, search, and responding tactically. The reported crime in this case is something that has been recurring for a long time, therefore, by deploying more patrol officers in the area, faster response, crime curbing, and arrests can be enhanced.
Aviation Unit
The police aviation unit have responsibilities similar to the patrol unit, except that they operate from the air using police helicopters to combat crime through wide coverage. The aviation police also have a duty to emergency responses to protect property, lives, and prevent crimes within a spotted crime area. The case at hand involves criminals who rob in large numbers which make arrests difficult. However, through the use of aviation police, helicopters can cover a wide area hence restraining the offenders' movement away from the crime scene which will make it easy for on-ground officers to make arrests.
2 Non-departmental Units from the Criminal Justice System
Investigation Commander
The Investigation commander is in charge of all the police units that deal with investigation in crime. Therefore, all units report to the commander's office. For this case, since units such as crimes against property, narcotics and vice, and juvenile are involved, the Investigation commander will need to be in play too to lead the units jointly.
Operations Commander
The operations commander is in charge of all police units that are active in operational activities such as making arrests, monitoring, and patrol. Operational units are less involved in investigation. They include the communication centre (911), patrol, and aviation units. Since these units are actively involved in this case, they will be jointly administered by the operations commander, hence his need.
Unnecessary Units/ that will NOT be part of the task force
Homicide Unit
The Homicide Unit is involved in investigation of murder cases, homicides, suicides, natural deaths, as well as casualties (Spelman, 2017). The detectives in this unit conduct investigation through interrogation of witnesses, and suspects, as well as forensics. This unit is not needed in this case because no deaths are reported in the robberies committed.
Sex Crimes Unit
The Sex crimes unit is responsible for investigation of sex crimes such as rape cases, child molestation, sex harassment, among other sex relates crimes. The unit performs both active investigation through interrogation and forensics as well as making arrests to suspects involved in the crime. The sex crimes unit is also not needed in this case because no sex violations occur during the robberies. Therefore, it would be a waste of resources to assign sex crime police officers in this case.
Animal Control Unit
The Animal control unit is headed by a Sergeant who works alongside a team of approximately six civilian animal control police officers (van Wijk et al., 2018). The responsibility of the unit is to enforce animal vaccination laws, monitoring stray animals, or vicious animals in sections assigned within the department premises within the jurisdiction assigned. Additionally, these officers investigate calls that regard animal cruelty, bites, and animals causing nuisance in neighborhoods. The scenario in this case involves human beings who rob businesses, and not animals. Therefore, it is not sensible to involve the unit.
Police Academy Unit
The police academy unit is responsible for recruitment and training of police officers operating in different departments and units, to ensure that the police force is competent enough to handle security issues, law enforcement, as well as protect citizens from possible harms to their properties and businesses (Hochstein, 2016). This unit is not needed in this case because the situation at hand is a crime scene where immediate action is needed, and not training.
References
Hochstein, L. E. (2016). Merging Academics and Police Training: Washington State University’s Department of Police Science and Administration and the Law Enforcement Assistance Act of 1965. Journal of Criminal Justice Education, 27(4), 473-484.
Mijares, T. C. (2008). The management of police specialized tactical units. Charles C Thomas Publisher.
Van Wijk, A., Hardeman, M., & Endenburg, N. (2018). Animal abuse: Offender and offence characteristics. A descriptive study. Journal of Investigative Psychology and Offender Profiling, 15(2), 175-186.
Spelman, W. (2017). The murder mystery: Police effectiveness and homicide. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 33(4), 859-886.
Ricart, C. A. P. (2018). The Role of the DEA in the Emergence of the Field of Anti-narcotics Policing in Latin America. Global Governance, 24(2), 169-191.
