Criminal Justice System Case

Criminal Justice System

Question 1

COMPSTAT is an acronym for computer statistics or comparative statistics. This model was first initiated by the New York Police Division as a tool for deterring crime and proper resource allocation. It, therefore, is a tool for effective accountability for the police (Weisburd, Mastrofski, McNally, Greenspan, & Willis, 2003). Compstat employs Geographic Information System with the intention of mapping out crime in towns and major cities. This also ensures the quality of life for the citizens and, thus peaceful existence in cities. The compstat model has not only ensured efficiency sin police administration but also enhanced their effectiveness in dealing with the general wrongdoing public behaviors (Cole and Gertz, 2012).

Through it synthesis structure, compstat facilitates timely analysis of crime and disordered investigative data. This is used to identify crime patterns.

Compstat operates on the principle of timely and accurate intelligence (Godown, 2009). In this perspective, official sources such as calls for service and arrests data are the primary data for crime intelligence. Crime maps and trends are developed from this data. The police can then identify major crimes. This principle also promotes integrity on the part of the officers on duty.

The command staff and the duty officers should employ the best techniques and resources to combat the identified problem. This is according to principle of 'Effective Tactics' as illustrated by (Godown, 2009). The compstat model provides a thorough process for developing these tactics and accounting for them.

The compstat system also runs on the principle of 'Rapid deployment'; that resources are deployed to the specific areas where the crime problem has been reported. This enables the crime police to counter the crime before it escalates.

According to (Godown, 2009), the principle of 'Relentless follow-up and assessment' provides the policy with the opportunity to monitor and evaluate the success of existing tactics of crime control. This information is essential in that it provides knowledge for improvement of current techniques of crime control including resource allocation.

The use of computer statistic in deterring crime has spread rapidly from New York to other cities such as Washington DC, Los Angeles, Austin, San Juan, San Francisco, Maryland, and Baltimore among others. This can be associated to its ability to change conditions of living. Compstat system combines the technical and managerial systems of the organization in combating crime. This harmonizing of systems plays a great role in providing a peaceful environment for citizens to carry out their daily activities.

According to (Walsh, 2001), the compstat model of dealing with crime enhances public safety. This could be the major reason why its application spreads very fast to various parts of the country. Observing accountability boasts public trust in the police force. This eases the work of the police officers as the public is willing to cooperate with them. Since most police divisions would want to have an improved public will, they resorted to the compstat system.

However, it can be noted that the compstats model for ensuring accountability is being adopted by bigger cities as compared to smaller towns. According to (Walsh, 2001), cities carry a huge population of people with diverse cultures and behaviors. This poses a risk to increased social vices such as prostitution, cyber crime, burglary and many other forms of crime. Hence, the compstats model is the 'only' best method that the cities' police division find suitable to deter these crimes.

Question 2

Official misconduct are illegal acts by an officer holding a public position, which violate his/her not duty to follow the law and act on behalf of the public (Cole and Gertz 2012). Official misconduct not only exists in the police but also in other government officials. Cases of corruption, misappropriation of funds and misuse of public resources have been rampant in the Criminal Justice System. The constitution of the United States of America is clear on the rule of law; that nobody is above the law.