Chapter Six: The Police and Crime
Lecture Outline
I. Introduction
A. Crime control is one of the major responsibilities of the police. Responsibilities:
1. Preventing crime
2. Responding to criminal incidents
3. Conducting criminal investigations
4. Arresting offenders
II. The police and crime
A. Crime control strategies
1. Proactive vs. reactive
2. General vs. specific
3. Particular crimes
4. Specific places
5. Specific offenders
6. Specific victims
B. Crime control assumptions
1. Police and citizens
a. many see police and criminal justice system as society's primary
mechanism for controlling crime
b. professionalization movement--emphasis on crime fighting role;
this emphasis isolated police from the public
c. to correct for this, emphasis turned towards community policing--based
on the assumption that citizens are "co-producers" of police services
2. Police and other social institutions
a. University of Maryland (1997) report
b. places police activities in context of other social institutions
c. distinction between "law enforcement" and crime prevention not valid
d. all programs and institutions are a single crime prevention continuum
e. seven institutions that play a role in preventing crime: communities, families,
schools, labor markets, places, the police and other criminal justice programs
f. approach makes two points about crime prevention
i. police are only one of several institutions with some impact on crime,
and they cannot be expected to bear all responsibility
ii. interdependence of different institutions
C. Measuring effectiveness requires
1. Meaningful definitions of what is to be measured
2. Reliable data on expected outcomes
III. Preventing crime
A. Primary police crime prevention activity is routine patrol
1. Patrol has only limited effect on crime
a. Kansas City Preventative Patrol Experiment (1972-1973)
b. Newark Foot Patrol Experiment (1978-1979)
B. Traditionally, many police agencies maintained formal crime prevention programs,
meeting with community groups to discuss crime prevention techniques
(EX: improving security, target hardening, marking valuable property)
C. Since 1980s--crime prevention revolution
1. Instead of a secondary role, now seen as central police activity
2. Basic element of community policing and problem-oriented policing
a. community policing
i. police need to establish partnerships with neighborhood residents
ii. citizens are "co-producers" of police services
iii. rejects traditional model that police are primarily responsible for crime control
b. community-based crime prevention programs
i. build neighborhood organizations
ii. improve physical appearance of neighborhoods
iii. eliminate drug activity, reduce truancy, etc.
iv. police act as problem-solvers, community organizers
IV. Apprehending criminals
A. Second major crime fighting responsibility--apprehend criminals. To accomplish, police must:
1. Learn that a crime has been committed
2. Officially record it as a crime
3. Attempt to identify and arrest a suspect
B. Citizen reporting of crime
1. Police learn about crimes through:
a. reactive responses
i. citizen reports
ii. police officer on-view investigations
b. proactive response: police-initiated investigations
2. Police learn of most crimes through citizen reports
a. reporting crime is a highly discretionary discretion
b. citizens are true "gatekeepers" of the criminal justice system
3. Police rarely discover crimes in progress
4. Victims do not report most crimes to the police
(EX: National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS)--only 36.3% of victims reported crimes to the police)
5. Factors which affect reporting
a. citizens are more likely to report
i. serious crimes
ii. violent crimes
iii. crimes where there is personal injury
iv. crimes involving a high dollar loss
b. African-Americans and whites report crimes at equal rates
c. women and men report crimes at equal rates, but women are 10%
more likely than males to report violent crimes
d. teenagers report crimes at significantly lower rates
e. people in different income brackets report crimes at roughly the same rate
6. Reasons for not reporting
a. victims:
i. do not think the crime is important
ii. do not think anything can be done about it
iii. view certain crimes as private or personal
b. perception of the police
C. Reporting and unfounding crimes
1. When citizen reports a crime, police must make official record for it to
be entered into UCR
2. Officers often do not complete a crime report
a. "unfounding" a crime
b. no penalty for not completing a crime report--area of unregulated police discretion
3. Officer's decision not to complete a report--affected by same factors
that influence arrest decisions
4. Reasons officer may unfound a crime
a. citizen may believe incident is crime when it is not
b. insufficient evidence to prove to officer that a crime was committed
(EX: report of attempted break-in, but no physical evidence)
c. abuse of officer discretion
i. bias against the victim
ii. perception that victim was at fault
d. to lower crime rate
e. altering crime reports
i. legitimate: if change is based on new information
ii. illegitimate: to lower the crime rate
iii. can change public's perception of community safety
V. Criminal investigation
A. Myths about detective work
1. Detective work is exciting and dangerous
2. Detectives possess great courage and extraordinary skill
3. Detectives "can solve any crime"
B. Harmful effects of myths
1. Create unreasonable expectations about ability of police to control crime,
which result in dissatisfaction when police fail to solve a crime
2. Officers regard investigation as "real" police work and devalue patrol work
C. The organization of detective work
1. Criminal investigation located in a separate unit of the police department
a. size of unit varies among departments
b. large departments--separate and specialized
(EX: homicide, property crimes, sexual assault)
c. medium departments--separate but unspecialized
d. small departments--no specialized unit
2. Detective position
a. high status assignment
i. greater autonomy
ii. have much discretion on cases
iii. civilian clothes
iv. clearly defined measure of success
b. status varies by unit
i. homicide occupies highest status
ii. followed by robbery and sexual assault
c. vice units (special case)
i. involve victimless crimes
ii. require proactive police work
iii. undercover work--special skills, greater danger and moral hazards
VI. The investigation process
A. 2 stages
1. Preliminary investigation--five basic steps
a. identifying and arresting any suspects
b. providing aid to victims who need medical attention
c. securing the crime scene to prevent evidence loss
d. collecting physical evidence
e. preparing preliminary report
2. Patrol officers, rather than detectives, make 80% of all arrests
a. most arrests occur because suspect is on the scene or nearby
b. patrol officers handle easy arrests
c. detectives are assigned to cases that are difficult to solve
B. Arrest discretion
1. Black found that officers make arrests in only half the situations where there
is sufficient legal basis for arrest
2. Officers are influenced by situational factors: crime severity, evidence,
whether or not the victim requests arrest, victim/suspect relationship, suspect demeanor
C. Follow-up investigations
1. Case is assigned to detectives when arrest is made or there is no arrest
2. Three categories of activities--Police Executive Research Forum (PERF)
a. routine activities
i. interviewing victims
ii. checking the crime scene
b. secondary activities
i. canvassing for witnesses
ii. interviewing other people and witnesses
iii. discussing the case with supervisors
iv. collecting evidence
c. tertiary activities
i. discussing case with patrol officers
ii. interviewing suspects
iii. discussing case with other detectives
iv. checking internal and external records
v. interviewing informants
vi. conducting stakeouts
D. The reality of detective work: Rand Corporation study (1970s)
1. Found detective work to be superficial, routine and nonproductive
2. Many cases receive "superficial" attention
3. Some cases not investigated at all
4. Most investigative work involves paperwork
5. Most cases receive one day or less of work
E. Case screening
1. Detectives screen cases to determine amount of investigative effort; decisions based on
a. crime seriousness
b. evidence that is likely to lead to arrest
2. PERF Study--caseload consists of three components
a. nominal caseload: cases assigned to that officer
b. workable caseload: cases with sufficient leads---worth attempting to solve
c. actual caseload: cases actually worked by detectives
VII. Measuring the effectiveness of criminal investigation
A. The clearance rate
1. FBI-cases are "cleared" when:
a. police have identified the offender and
b. have sufficient evidence to charge and take suspect into custody or
c. when factor beyond control of the police prevents suspect custody
2. Nationally, only 21% of all reported Index Crimes are cleared
3. Reasons why the clearance rate is not a reliable performance measure:
a. based on reported crimes--only 36% of all crimes are reported
b. departments do not use the same criteria for clearing crimes
c. data can be manipulated
d. data is not audited
B. Defining an arrest
1. Four dimensions
a. legally: when suspect is not free to leave
b. behavioral: can include command to stop, verbal statement or physical restraint
c. subjectively: when a person believes he/she is under arrest or not free to go
d. officially: when police make official arrest report, arrest records vary within
or among departments or at different stages
2. Results
a. many persons are legally arrested but no official record is made
b. lack of standard procedures makes comparability of arrest data across
departments difficult
VIII. Success and failure in solving crimes
A. Police solve only 21% of all Part I felonies each year
B. Most important factor in solving crime: immediately obtaining the name or
description of a suspect.
C. Highest clearance rates
1.When violator is known to complainant or police at time of reporting
2. Violent crime: involves direct contact between offender and victim
D. Detective screening
1. Based primarily on whether the case has good leads
a. good leads--robberies, rapes, assaults
b. no leads--burglaries, thefts
c. presence or absence of a good lead is a "structural" factor--related to
the nature of the crime and independent of police effort
2. Some research indicates police effort has little effect on the clearance rates
3. Other research argues police effort does affect clearance rates
E. Eyewitness identification
1. Important but problematic
a. because trauma may cause exaggeration or stereotyping
b. due to incomplete description
F. Criminalistics
1. Virtually all departments have access to crime labs through cooperative agreements
2. Myth of fingerprints--rarely an important factor in solving crimes
a. difficult to obtain useful prints
b. (NYPD)-when prints are usable, only 3% lead to arrests
G. Officer productivity
1. Significant differences among detectives in terms of arrest
2. Depends on a number of factors
a. varies by crime investigation assignment
(EX: robbery has a higher solvability rate than burglary)
b. some officers work harder than others at making arrests
3. Quality of arrest is more important than total number of arrests
H. The problem of case attrition
1. Approximately half of all felony arrests result in conviction; this raises questions
regarding the cause of attrition
2. Petersilia, Abrahamse and Wilson study
a. departments that use arrest statistics as performance measure had lower
clearance rates than those who did not
b. attrition rates are lower in cities that spent more money per arrest;
this may indicate greater resources
IX. Improving criminal investigations
A. PERF-Stanford Research Institute recommendations
1. Formal case screening
2. Point system based on factors that may lead to clearing crimes
B. Developing closer relationships between patrol and detectives
1. Traditionally there is competition between the 2 groups
2. Moving detective units into patrol precincts
3. Abolishing specialized units and creating general investigative units
C. Increasing police-citizen cooperation
1. Citizens are viewed as co-producers of information
2. Community policing and problem-oriented policing
D. Fear Reduction Experiment--Houston
1. Design
a. officers recontacted victims by phone to ask if further assistance was
needed (EX: offer advice on insurance claims, information on cases)
b. the purpose was to provide support, reassurance, information
2. Findings
a. recontacted victims
i. did not have more positive attitudes about the police
ii. were not less worried about crime
b. Hispanic and Asian victims
i. were more fearful of crime
ii. were less satisfied with their neighborhood than other victims were with theirs
iii. were slightly more positive in evaluation of the police
c. language: victims who rated their English facility as fair or poor were more fearful of crime
3. Implications: cultural sensitivity is an important element in police programs
E. Targeting career criminals
1. Career criminals: small number of people believed to be currently committing a high rate of offenses
2. Three types of Repeat Offender Programs (ROPs)
a. targeting suspected high rate offenders for surveillance and arrest
b. special warrant service for suspected high rate offenders
c. case enhancement programs providing prosecutors with full information about offenders
3. ROP-Washington, D.C. evaluation
a. ROP increased likelihood of arrest of targeted repeat offenders
b. ROP offices made fewer arrests than comparison officers
c. cost-effectiveness of the program was questioned
X. Special investigative techniques
A. Undercover police work
1. Problems:
a. involves officer deception; may lead to being socialized to lie (EX: testifying in court)
b. socialization with criminals--officer may "go native"
i. erodes values and standards of policing
ii. weakens ties to peer officers and family
c. lack of supervision may contribute to corruption
2. Controls
a. written procedures on undercover work
b. designating supervisor/coordinator
c. providing close supervision
B. Informants
1. Important source of information
a. especially useful in victimless crimes and other criminal activity
b. special knowledge--either criminals or associated with criminals
2. Problems
a. police involved in exchange develop relationship with known criminal
i. police must give something for information
ii. most valuable commodity: promise of leniency
b. morally questionable to overlook criminal activity
c. relationship compromises police integrity, could lead to corruption
d. informants may provide questionable information
3. Controls: policies and procedures regarding agreements with informants
XI. Policing drugs
A. By the end of the1980s, drugs were the most serious problem facing the police
1. Particularly "crack" cocaine
2. Competition for control in drug markets led to increase in homicide
3. Last five years--decrease in use and violence
B. Drug enforcement strategies
1. Supply reduction strategy (four tactics)
a. buy and bust: officers purchase drugs and arrest dealers
b. trading up: arresting low level dealers, offer leniency for information about higher-level dealers
c. penetrate drug syndicate through long-term undercover work
d. crackdown: intensive enforcement in specific area over limited time period
2. Demand reduction strategy
a. reduce demand for drugs on part of users
b. drug education programs
(EX: D.A.R.E.)
3. Supply reduction strategy--no effectiveness
a. no evidence that threat of arrest deters drug use or sale
b. replacement effect: new dealers replace those arrested
c. trading up does not disrupt drug trafficking organizations
4. Why do police continue these activities in the absence of effectiveness?
Manning--"dramaturgical effect"
a. drug arrests generate publicity
b. they create the appearance that police are doing something
C. Retail drug enforcement
1. Strategic shift in police tactics within last decade
a. before crack cocaine--enforcement was left to plainclothes vice units
b. since crack cocaine--patrol officers assist in drug enforcement
2. Street level dealing and use have declined
a. it's unclear what impact police contributed to decline
b. police crackdowns may have had short-term, modest impacts
3. Eck and Maguire argue long-term impact of strategies may be substantial
a. "pinching" offenders regularly may be wearing them down
b. "management of places"-community policing may be changing
neighborhoods--where drug activity is no longer allowed
D. Minorities and the war on drugs
1. Significant disparity in arrest of minorities for drug offenses
a. drug use among African-Americans not much higher than whites
b. far more arrest of African-Americans than of whites
2. Racial disparity may be result of police targeting minority neighborhoods
E. Demand reduction: The D.A.R.E. program
1. Originated from Los Angeles Police Department and schools in 1983
2. Extremely popular; by 1997 70% of schools had programs
3. Reasons for popularity
a. addresses parent concern about juvenile drug abuse
b. supports belief that education is an effective approach
c. both police and schools want to appear to be doing something about drug problem
4. Evaluations of D.A.R.E: most evaluations show no significant reduction
in drug use due to program
F. New approaches to drug enforcement
1. Oakland, CA: SMART program
a. police work closely with other city agencies
b. emphasize non-law enforcement strategies
(EX: attack drug houses through enforcing city building codes)
c. evaluation
i. reduced signs of illegal behavior
ii. no crime or disorder displacement
iii. diffusion of reduced crime and disorder in surrounding areas
XII. Policing gangs and gang-related crime
A. Gangs can be found in every state and in almost every major city in the U.S.
1. Gangs are responsible for the rise in drug use and violence among youths
2. Gang members are disproportionately involved in criminal activity and heavily
involved in drug use and drug sales
B. Gang suppression
1. Growth of gangs had led to specialized police gang units
a. sole function is to engage in gang control efforts
b. approximately 360 gang units in the U.S.--86% have been established in the past ten years
2. Gang units part of an overall trend to create specialized police units
3. Gang units are symbolic of a moral crusade where police are combating gangs
(EX: SMASH, CRASH and GET)
4. Los Angeles study on gang unit effectiveness
a. gang designated cases are more likely to have a greater number of:
i. pages of investigation
ii. interviews conducted
iii. witness addresses
iv. suspects charged
v. cases cleared
b. units my contribute special knowledge in gang crime investigation
C. Gang prevention: The G.R.E.A.T. program
1. Established by Phoenix police department in 1991, modeled after D.A.R.E.
2. Evaluation of G.R.E.A.T.
a. students who participated self-reported
i. lower rates of delinquency
ii. lower rates of gang affiliation
iii. more positive attitudes toward the police
iv. more negative attitudes toward gangs
v. more friends in prosocial activities
vi. higher attachment to parents
vii. more commitment to school
b. limitations
i. data was collected only one year after participation in program
ii. program effects may have worn off
XIII. Policing guns and gun crimes
A. The Kansas City Gun Experiment
1. Objective: to reduce gun-related crimes by removing guns from the streets
-a combination of problem-oriented policing and hot spots
2. Design
a. two beats (one target, one control)
b. officers make stops and searches of vehicles believed to contain guns
3. Findings
a. gun crime fell 49% in target beat
b. 4% increase in control beat
c. no evidence of displacement of diffusion of benefits
4. Implications
a. experiment suggested positive effect of hot spots oriented program
b. replication study in Indianapolis was controversial
XIV. Policing hate crime
A. Hate crimes (or bias crimes)
1. offenses motivated by the offender's bias (EX: bias against race, religion,
disability, ethnic/national origin, sexual orientation)
2. Motivation is subjective--difficult for police to determine if it's a hate crime
B. The scope and nature of hate crime
1. 1999-7,876 bias crimes reported to the FBI
2. Five characteristics of hate crimes
a. hate crimes involve higher level of assaults against persons than crimes generally
b. hate crimes are generally more violent
c. attacks are often preceded by incidents that escalate in severity
d. more likely to be committed by groups of perpetrators
e. more likely to committed by strangers
C. The police response to hate crime
1. Some departments have created specialized bias crime units
(EX: NYPD-BIIU, Baltimore County Police)
2. Susan Martin--three reasons for focusing on hate crimes
a. offenses are based on victims who have greater difficulty dealing with victimization
b. hate crimes raise levels of mistrust, fear and intergroup tensions
c. many hate crimes are not severe in terms of penal law and normally would
receive little or no police attention
3. Evaluations of bias crime units (NYPD-BIIU, Baltimore County Police)
a. bias crimes received more investigation
b. more bias crimes cleared
c. victims of bias crimes expressed higher rates of satisfaction with police response
XV. Current problems facing law enforcement
A. School crime
1. Recent school shootings--increase in public attention to school crime and safety
2. Children more likely to be victim of violent crime outside of school
3. School crime has declined substantially over the past few years
4. Theft accounts for 60% of all crime against students in school
5. Violent school crime often results in multiple victims
a. multiple victim homicides in school are isolated
b. but isolated events capture public attention and stir up fear among parents
6. Response to rising concern about school crime--School Resource Officers (SROs)
a. officers permanently assigned to middle and high schools
b. teach students about criminal laws
iii. provide visible and positive image of police to students
iv. counsel students about personal problems
v. responsible to provide safe learning environment
B. Terrorism
1. Between 1990-1998 (except in 1994) there has been at least one act of domestic terrorism per year
2. FBI has primary responsibility of investigating acts of domestic terrorism
a. no uniform definition of domestic terrorism
b. no federal law that specifically makes terrorism a crime
3. Response to acts of terrorism: use existing criminal statutes to arrest and
convict those involved in terrorist activity
C. Computer crime
1. Increased use of computers and the internet create new opportunities for crime
2. Three factors that make computer-related crime difficult to address
a. computers use high-tech and innovative methods to commit crime
b. computers are used to cross jurisdictional boundaries
c. evidence of crimes is neither physical nor human
3. All factors make it difficult for police and detectives to investigate
harms resulting from computer-related crimes are hard to estimate
4. 74% of major corporations have been victimized in the last year
5. 4 major groups of "cyber criminals"
a. insiders
i. most common type of cyber criminal
ii. current or former employee of a company
iii. internal knowledge allows theft of data, client lists, etc.
b. hackers
i. cracks into networks
ii. purpose-for the thrill or for making illegal financial transaction
c. virus writers
i. create computer viruses to potentially destroy data
ii. viruses typically are spread through e-mail
d. criminal groups usually steal large amounts of information or data
(EX: stealing calling card numbers and then reselling them)
6. Law enforcement has been slow to respond to computer-related crime
7. NIPCIP--developed in 1998 by FBI
a. assesses threat
b. warns communities, corporations and individuals they are potential victims
c. investigates incidents within federal jurisdiction
8. Much computer crime might fall within local departments' jurisdiction
a. but most departments are not prepared to respond
b. lack personnel, equipment or expertise
c. most departments view computer-related crime as a low priority
XVI. Summary
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2002 McGraw-Hill Higher Education