Policing Perspective: Theory And Application

The operation of policing has significantly evolved over the past fifty years, and looking at some of the various trends that have impacted the development has been a much debated topic amongst our class during discussion regarding these trends. Some of our class members looked at the prevailing theories of crime control in different ways. One suggestion was made that the criminal justice system should focus on the victims' rights instead of the defendants' rights. Another part of the crime control model should be looked at a way that it could reduce the crime in the society by using the increase of police and prosecutorial powers. Some people feel that if the police and the court personnel have more power than the crime levels could be reduced.

The due process is one theory that our classmates feel that is a good theory. The reason is because the due process main focus to make sure that the criminals is punished for the crimes that they commit. It is also helps to prevent the criminals from committing more crimes by making them liable for their actions.

Crime trends in the past have proven to be more of a threat when criminals band together, over great lengths of distance. Being able to isolate crime that is taking place in one country is hard, but not impossible. Unfortunately, when there is a dramatic increase of cross border trade, investments, and cultural exchange over the years, it becomes nearly impossible to isolate where crime is being committed. Globalization is a criminal trend that has been around for many years, and it continues to be a problem through the development of another trend, technology. Technology although having proved to be of great importance, unfortunately it has also proven to be a huge aide in many criminal trends. For example through the use of technology, criminals are able to commit fraud a lot more discretely. Technology has been a contributing factor in crimes such as, theft of intellectual property, price fixing, and, child pornography. As time has passed, technology has proven that through its never-ending evolution, it will continue to help as much as it hinders policing. Therefore, it is important for policing organizations to be able to analyze past trends through the use of globalization and technology. Otherwise there could be an uncontrollable increase of crimes such as of "smuggling illegal drugs, weapons and people; trafficking in endangered species; using illegal offshore tax havens; and engaging in money laundering schemes." If policing organizations don't stay up to date on the evolution of technology, practices such as the way we they do business and conduct government, speeding communications, expanding opportunities for cultural and political expression, and greatly increasing access to a wealth of information and services, could be affected. ("The United States Department Of Justice", n. d.)

Using Michigan cities Detroit, Flint, and Grand Rapids as the basis for research and application of the crime control theories the FBI uniformed crime reports offer plenty of information. Detroit has seen a recent decline in industry due to the economic downfall and has the second highest crime rate in the nation. The first highest goes to Flint a significantly smaller city (Oosting, 2011). Detroit's estimated population after the 2010 census was just under 715,000 where Flint was just short of 110,000 people (FBI, Table 8, 2011). Grand Rapids has a population of just fewer than 200,000 but their crime rate is not as high as Flint and Detroit. One reason might be that Grand Rapids boasts being the base of five major furniture producers in the nation (City-Data.com, 2012). The city is also located on a port that has access to the Midwest, east-coast and mid-south markets. Detroit's economy is largely based on the auto industry and as auto production has declined so have the job opportunities. In 2010 the unemployment rate in Detroit was 22.9%, significantly higher than the rest of the country (Detroit Economy, 2012).

Looking at the information from the choice theory of crime it would make sense that a resident in these areas where employment opportunities are dismal would see more benefit than consequence in robbing