Community Crime Prevention Scenarios

My focus, during the interview that I conducted with a police sergeant at a local police department, was on a program within a school district that is aimed at anonymity and rewards to help with problem solving, but it is also providing a community service and helping in deterring crime. The program is a crime stoppers program where people are able to call in and give anonymous tips, if an arrest or seizure is made, then these people are able to collect a reward for their tip. Overall, it is a great program, great enough for the city police and the school district police to each have one that is independent from one another, yet work together hand in hand.
After hearing what my interviewee had to say about the program, I would have to say that …show more content…
Crime prevention is some sort of attempt to reduce and deter crime and criminal activity. Crime control is a more reactive response to crime whether it be through arrest or through monetary ways such as fines (Worral, 2014). Crime Stoppers, and in this case, Campus Crime Stoppers is more of a crime prevention tool as its goal is really to get the community involved and empower them and motivate them to report crimes or possible crimes. The community people are the ones that are controlling the program and are vested in the community health, this program is a tool they can use to report crimes anonymously and have the police investigate was is going on and make arrest if possible. This program can be seen as a diversionary program in some ways, as it is a way to get people to divert away from committing a crime as it might be reported and they will not know by whom it was. Granted it would not be the formal view of what diversion is. Diversion is meant to identify crimes and offender characteristics and allow offenders, especially first time offenders, to enter the program and follow another pathway instead of following the normal criminal case process (Berman, n.d.). Who knows, but maybe the person caught on the tip will be a first time offender and may be offered a diversion program either …show more content…
The two approaches can work together though but we first need to see what they are. The liberal approach is directed more toward protecting someone’s rights and where diversionary tactics may work better, while the conservative approach is directed toward tough punishment and crime control as a means of deterring crime. Based on just the interview, I would say that the interviewee is there to help people regardless of their background. She seemed to be blind to where people come from and based herself solely on what was in front of her. I believe that this is why she enjoys the crime stoppers program. The program does not see the person or their upbringing and is only used to collect data called in and have law enforcement respond to it. The findings may be true or may be found to be a farce, but the fact is the background of that person has nothing to do with the case. Since she is working with the school district police department, she has to be there because she believes that these young offenders can be helped and diverted from a life of crime. The program, if arrests are made, will set out the example that if you are caught there will be repercussions. Even if there aren’t any arrests, there was still an investigation and people were interviewed, so this too could stand as a deterrent. In summation, I feel that she and the program follow both beliefs