Departmental Project: Strategic Plan

Introduction

The eight task force that will effectively eliminate the increased robbery cases in the Simulate City will include uniformed police patrol, a crime against property, traffic control, SWAT, cyber-crime and criminal intelligence units. The two departments that will work closely with the six police department as a collaborative effort are the courts and corrections and rehabilitation departments. The task force will be able to work in harmony to ensure that the criminals are arrested and prosecuted according to the laws of the land.

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Uniformed Patrol 24/7

The duties of uniformed patrol in the Simulate City is to keep law and order around business premises. They will ensure that elements of criminal activities in the area are prevented from executing a crime. Patrolling will, therefore, involve searching the area, citing criminal points, warning and arresting the criminal elements. Apart from looking for criminals in the city, uniformed patrol officers will establish good community relationship with the business owners, residents and leaders as they conduct foot patrol. It will be easy to prevent organized and opportunistic crimes once the police presence is increased in the area. Foot patrol increases the safety and security confidentiality of the residents (Hough, 1996). More so, they will be contented with the purpose of police patrol in reducing the fear of crime. The tactic of the uniformed patrols will be problem-oriented because the objective is to maintain law and order by apprehending robbers. The uniformed officers will also work together with the private security personnel deployed by the Simulate Small Business Association.

Crime against Property Unit

Since the robbers are targeting businesses selling sports attires, pharmaceuticals, liquors, and electronics, a crime against property unit is aware of how to process such crimes. The function of this unit is to investigate the stores' robbery and recover the stolen property. The unit will work hand-in-hand with the uniformed patrol officers to issue search warrants and arrest warrants in the area to track the stolen property. The choice of this unit is tactical because the officers have skills and knowledge in handling footprints, fingerprints as well conduct DNA test when necessary. The unit is also entitled to keep a proper record of investigated crimes in the area, carry out witness interview, and interrogate a list of suspects and victims of the robbery.

Traffic control unit. The officers under this department have the responsibility to manage crime related incidences such as tracking down vehicles used to carry out a crime. Controlling and searching vehicles along the highways will a protective and a counter crime measure to identify criminals. It is a regular role that will minimize easy get away from offenders with stolen property. The officers will also provide on-time responses regarding crime in the city and enforce parking rules and regulations, take notes of vehicles parked at the scene of the crime and impound those used to carry out an offense. Traffic control unit is significant in this task force because they can intersect a vehicle involved in a crime, arrest the traffic lawbreakers and present them in court for charges.

SWAT. The sole purpose of this unit to ensure life is protected during a crime incidence. Since the young adults and teenagers commit a crime as a team, they might cause harm to the business owners and employees who refuse to let go their property. Such crime involves a high risk of life and therefore including this unit will save the lives of employers and employees in case a criminal incident occurs. Depending on the weapons possessed by the gang, the task force will determine appropriate force to use. For example, if the crime is committed and involves hostage situation, it calls for SWAT to use a deadly force to flash out the criminals. Armed robbers pose a threat to life, thus, require immediate SWAT intervention to impound the problem. In case of high-risk arrests and search warrants, the team is good in providing support to the crime against property officers using raids. SWAT is also a highly trained force that saves the lives of people in precarious circumstances.

Cyber-Crime Unit

The robbery gang is recruited online using specific secret codes, cyber-crime officers are resourceful in identifying this illegal online recruitment of youths. The officers under this unit have the duty to carry out forensic examination on the use of the internet. It is a significant technical aid to the other task force units in detecting online crimes. It is a perfect unit to crack down perpetrators behind the recruitment of this unit. By using this task force, it will be easy to collect digital evidence regarding illegal online recruitment which can later be presented in court to ensure proper prosecution is done. The unit is working in conjunction with property detection unit and uniformed officers in the city to prevent future occurrence of these crimes. Their role will be progressive to ensure the use of internet in the city follows law and order where criminal elements are filtered. It cracking the codes used by the criminals to recruit the youths online will be the ultimate goal of the unit hold individuals liable. The unit has proper training in assessing the cybersecurity threats, using this team, it will be easy to track down potential criminals before an actual crime can take place in the city.

Criminal Intelligence Unit

The purpose of this unit will be identifying the criminal target, collect information about these criminal elements, creating an understanding of their gang organization and operations. Once full knowledge about the criminal group is gathered, the other relevant unit in the task force is notified in advance to act on the situation. The information submitted to other agencies must be authentic and correct to avoid victimization of other innocent people. The choice of this unit is valuable both at the strategic and operational level since valuable information concerning criminal suspects, issues and incidents are availed for analysis before a course of action is taken (Potparic, 2014). The intelligence officers are supposed to work closely with the other officers in the task force by issuing a warning about the criminal threat and its pattern. The task force can assess and profile different crime scenes in the city, hence appropriate in making decisions on matters deploying other units.

Court department. In a criminal justice System, Courts are essential places to conduct a legal action. In this case, trials regarding crime are heard in court, and a judge gives court verdict. The other law enforcers in the task force have the responsibility to ensure criminals are arrested and avail a burden of proof that indeed the offender is guilty. It through the courts that justice can be achieved as well as apply the criminal law to the latter. The reason for choosing this department is its independence in making giving verdicts regarding criminal cases.

Corrections and rehabilitation department. Working with the department of correction is significant in locking away criminal offenders once charged in court. The department not only jails the offenders but provides rehabilitation programs that aim at changing the criminal behaviors so that they can later be integrated back into the society as transformed members of the community (Kifer, Hemmens & Stohr, 2003). The criminal minds are separated from the right society members through punishment to enhance self-discipline.

Four Units Not Selected

The four units that will not be included in the task force include homicide, sex crimes, animal control and criminal gang units. For criminal gang unit, the do the same job as intelligence and uniformed officers in preventing crimes and development of criminal organizations. For the homicide unit, the officers are responsible for investigating crimes that involve murder, a different role of the eight-team task force. Similarly, sex crime unit dwells much on criminal cases revolving around sexual assault not the stolen property, a reason for its exclusion from joining the task force. Lastly, the animal control unit controls and monitors compliance with animal rules and regulations, and promote the welfare of animals. In the case of Simulate city, it is true that participation of animal department will be vague as well as a waste of resources in eliminating robbery problem at hand. In one way or another, the four departments if included could lead to wastage of resources and duplication of functions which is costly.

References

Hough, M. (1996). Police Patrol Function: What Research Can Tell Us (From Themes in Contemporary Policing, P 60-71, 1996, William Saulsbury, Joy Mott, and Tim Newburn, eds.--See NCJ-166841).

Kifer, M., Hemmens, C., & Stohr, M. K. (2003). The goals of corrections: Perspectives from the line. Criminal Justice Review, 28(1), 47-69.

Potparic, D. (2014). The effectiveness of criminal intelligence management: A Slovenian case study. Revija za kriminalistiko in kriminologijo/Ljubljana, 65(4), 347-360.