Howell County Crime Report

Purdue University Global

CJ 110-01

Crime Statistics for 2009 and 2010

In this jurisdiction, it appears that the overall rate of crimes is rising. As can be seen in the data chart above, all but two areas of crime has risen 8% or more, with the one area that has decreased being forcible rapes, and one which has stayed the same, that being motor vehicle thefts.

One piece of information that is missing would be that of census data. How many individuals populate this area, and how has that changed within a two-year period? Has the population increased for the year of 2010? The data would contain a more accurate account of the percentage of change with the census data available, as it would highlight the population changes compared to the amount of crimes committed.

The one area in which crimes are staying the same is that of motor vehicle thefts: It has stayed at 103 incidents for the years of 2009 and 2010. There could be many reasons for why this area of crime is staying the same. Perhaps it could be due to patrol routes in higher crime areas, or the fact that the majority of newer vehicles has the OnStar protection built in. There is also the possibility that a majority of individuals park their vehicles in a garage versus out on the street which could help to deter criminals from their pursuits.

The two areas of crimes that I believe that we would benefit from analyzing closer would be that of motor vehicle thefts and burglaries, as these two type of crimes are similar and that, while motor vehicle thefts stayed the same, burglaries increased in frequency by 10.4%. Why would burglaries increase while motor vehicle thefts stayed the same? What is being done to deter increasing amounts of motor vehicle thefts and how could they be implemented to discourage burglaries?

This type of analysis would be a strategic analysis. The reason that I have picked this type of analysis is because a strategic analysis deals with facts and figures over a period of time. This data is then analyzed in order to create more effective strategies to deal with problems. This analysis can include researching effective strategies employed by other departments and testing their feasibility in that jurisdiction. Such responses that can be employed by this type of analysis could be; Increased patrols, increasing the amount of streetlights in the affected areas, and even placing surveillance cameras within the area .

This report includes Part I crimes. Part I crimes are the more serious offenses, i.e. homicide and rape, and generally carry a more serious penalty than that of Part II crimes. Part I crimes are known to be reported with more regularity than those of the Part II crimes, as well. These types of crimes are submitted to the Uniform Crime Report on a monthly basis, whereas the Part II crimes only include arrest reports, which do not give a true overview of the crimes committed within a geographical area .