Uniform Crime Report (UCR) Performance Task

Uniform Crime Report (UCR) Performance Task

CRJ105

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Uniform Crime Report (UCR) Performance Task

Crime is an action that constitutes an offense that violates moral and societal norms and is punishable by law. There are programs and surveys used to collect and measure the prevalence of crime. This objective of this study is to develop a report for the Happy Town Chief of police that he will use in a news conference concerning the rise in crime over the past five years. The report will offer details regarding uniform crime report, the data collection strategies utilized and a comparison of the crime trends in the four towns over the years.

Uniform Crime Report (UCR)

The program is a countrywide coordinative statistical effort of providing voluntary reporting on information about crimes. The participants of the program include cities, counties, tribes, states, universities, and law enforcement agencies. The program aims at generating reliable information for use in the administration, operation, and implementation of the law. Individuals such as researchers, media personalities, students of criminal justice, and law enforcement officials utilize this program to obtain data on the nation’s crime statistics.

An association of police chiefs formulated the initiative in 1929 in an attempt to satisfy the requirement for reliable and consistent crime statistics for the country. The Federal Bureau of Investigations has the duty of gathering, publishing and storing the data. Today, crime data submissions are made directly to the FBI program or via a state UCR program. The FBI then publishes the data in yearly reports. The reports include; Hate Crime Statistics, Crime in the U.S., Law enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted and National Incident-Based Reporting System.

Data-Gathering Strategy

Document review is the data collection strategy used to gather information for the evaluation and analysis of the crime trends in the four towns. It’s a qualitative method of collecting data by studying existing documents. It utilizes both internal and external materials of a program or an organization (CDC.gov, 2009). The records can be electronic or hard copies and include newsletters, publications, conference minutes, reports, proposals, and program logs.

In this study, Sergeant Gunn of the Happy Town Police Department provided the data. It comprised of part one crime data of the Happy, Smooth, Frown and Cool towns over the past five years. The reliability of the information was unquestionable since it was similar to the one provided to the FBI for the Uniform Crime Report. I preferred using this technique because the data came from a credible source. The police department has all the records of the various crimes and offenders committed over the years. The newspapers of the different towns also contributed to the analysis. Additionally, the method offered a smooth collection of data because it already existed and no further effort was needed. It was also economical since the information was readily available and timely. It also offered a chance for the evaluation of data gathered through different techniques and presented an opportunity for corroboration.

Crime Trends in the Four Towns

Happy Town

There was a five percent increase in the total number of major crimes committed in 2015 over the previous year. This rise was attributed mainly to the rise in Larceny-theft from 205 to 214. The years 2011, 2012, 2014 had increases of 9%, 15%, and 4% respectively over the previous years. According to the statistics, the town has had a steady rise in murder, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault cases from 2010 to 2015 with 2015 recording the highest numbers. There were decreases and increases in Burglary, larceny and motor vehicle theft over the years. The town’s population continuously reduced from 2011 due to the increase in crime. The police chief has had quite a challenge since his son was arrested again for Feet. There were incidences of shoplifting at the Socks which led to the discovery of drugs and a stolen weapon. The town has the highest crime rate among the four.

Frown Town

The percentage increase in major crimes over the previous years were 8%, 6%, 0.7%, 5.6%, -15% in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 respectively. The huge drop in 2015 was due to the decline in theft from 143 to 126. The drop was credited to criminal investigations, arrests and community involvement. The Town’s chief, Berretta attributed the success to community participation in creating a safer place. There was a constant increase in the major crimes until 2012 when a constant negative trend began. The population in the town increased over the years mostly due to the decline in crime rate. Larceny recorded high numbers compared to the rest. There were few cases of murder and rape through the years.

Smooth Town

In Smooth town, the percentage increase in part I crimes over the previous years was 1.8%, 3%, -1.4%, 1.4%, and 1% from 2011 through 2015. There was a rise in the town’s population over the years due to the low crime rates. Just like the other towns, larceny had the highest numbers. There were inconsistencies in the trends of the major crimes since the numbers increased and decreased throughout the period. According to the Smooth Town Daily, the low percentages were a result of declines in violent and property related crimes (Justice, 2016). In a conference, the police chief Wesson said that he was proud of the low rates and was hopeful of further declines in the future. The midsize town of 156,336 people had the lowest crime rates compared to all the other cities.

Cool Town

The town experienced percentage growths in criminal activities of 8.3%, 6%, 0.8%, 5.6%, -1.5% respectively over the five years. It recorded a drop of 1.5% in 2015 over 2014 which was the lowest. There was a decrease in larceny-theft by 17 from 143 to 126. There was a steady decline in the total number of major crimes until 2014. In 2015, the city experienced a decline in criminal activities. There were no murder cases in 2014 and 2015 and only to incidences of forcible rape in the two years. However, robbery and aggravated assault had a positive constant trend until 2014. According to Shirley Morris, a news reporter in the town, the people credited the 2015s drop to work by police officers and community partnership. Despite the drop, larceny-theft was a major problem in the town just like all the other towns. There was also a constant increase in the population over the period.

Conclusion

Criminal activities are divided into two; Part I and Part II offenses. Part I constitute the major crimes while part II the minor offenses like fraud and vandalism. The analysis indicates that the major crimes are a concern in the four towns, especially larceny-theft. Reports from the four towns show that community partnership with law enforcement is significant in dealing with crime. The UCR program is essential to the analysis of criminal activities to design strategies for handling the criminal world.

References

CDC.gov. (2009, January) Data Collection Methods for Evaluation: Document Review. Retrieved on April 6, 2018, from https://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/evaluation/pdf/brief18.pdf

FBI.gov. (2016) FBI: UCR. Accessed on April 6, 2018, from https://ucr.fbi.gov/

Justice, T. (2016, February 6) Major crimes Down in Smooth Town. Smooth Town daily. Retrieved on April 6, 2018, from https://strayer.vitalsource.com

Morris, S. (2016, February 19) Cool Town crime rate lowest in years, police say. Cool Town News. Retrieved on April 6, 2018, from https://strayer.vitalsource.com