Community Problem-Solving- Law Enforcement Problem-Solving Initiatives

Community Problem-Solving- Law Enforcement Problem-Solving Initiatives

Problem-solving is a policing approach designed to solve community problems by paying attention to their root causes. In this regard, the police collaborate with other criminal justice system professionals in a bid to change how they look at the community’s problems. Law enforcers may solve such problems by changing their viewpoint about them and implementing new and effective control measures. Police initiatives to resolve community problems will significantly reduce the application of traditional responses, as law enforcers play an active in crime prevention. Police initiatives in community problem-solving upend seemingly stubborn problems and make communities safer.

Reducing Violent Crime in Dallas

Dallas law enforcers have played a significant role in bringing down violent crime rates using community-based interventions. Dallas is a large metropolitan city occupied by around 1.3 million inhabitants (Dallas Police Department, 2021). There were about 3100 law enforcers under the Dallas Police Department, and the ratio of law enforcers against the population is low (Dallas Police Department, 2021). The task of controlling violent crimes such as theft, non-negligent manslaughter, and murder proved a huge task using traditional police responses.

Focused Deterrence Approach

One of the community-based initiatives that has been effective in dealing with violent crime in Dallas is the focused deterrence model. Initially designed in Boston in the 1990s, the focused deterrence model seeks to change offenders’ behavior before they deteriorate into intolerable society members (Dallas Police Department, 2021). Focused deterrence uses multiple strategies to address crime, including deterrence, arrest, provision of alternatives to violence, and community involvement. The main goal of such programs is to make potential offenders and high-risk individuals aware of the impending consequences if they offend. By working with community leaders, the police identify high-risk individuals and look for ways to communicate with them. The focused deterrence approach involves communication and the involvement of high-risk individuals in activities that will distract them from committing crimes.

According to the Dallas Police Department (2021), the focused deterrence initiative has significantly tapped into the help of external parties to make the approach successful. First, the Dallas Police Department (DPD) leverages the assistance of research institutions to provide crucial information about crime rates to help the DPD select specific geographic locations where it will focus. Besides, the city and community leadership provide vital insights into the most crime-infested areas, helping the police put their resources in the right places. General citizens also play a significant role in the initiatives, sometimes serving as violence interrupters. Violent interrupters are deployed to the most violence-infested locations to disrupt active violence, and this has helped curb the consequences of violence.

Children as Targets of Crime Prevention

The DPD, while using the focused deterrence crime prevention approach, enlists the services of social services organizations to target children. Childhood and adolescence development phases play a significant role in determining how children will end up as adults. During this stage, the children are most vulnerable to getting bad influences or developing the desire to offend as a means of survival (Frank, 2005). Accordingly, social welfare organizations collaborate with law enforcers to identify areas where children offend due to their seniors’ influence. For instance, a parent peddling drugs is likely to influence their children to do the same. To that end, the police, in collaboration with social service organizations, will take the children away from such a toxic environment.

Community Leadership

The focused deterrence initiative draws significant support from community leadership. In this case, community leaders do not have to hold any specific position in society but are just respected by others (Scott, 2017). Also, former offenders and inmates who have fully reformed help the policy in implementing this approach. Community leaders draw law enforcers’ attention to the real issues affecting the local community and advise about the best strategies they believe will address such problems. Also, such leaders are crucial in disseminating education and knowledge about the need to avoid crime to the public.

Outcomes

Recent data from Dallas indicates a significant drop in violent crime since law enforcers adopted the focused deterrence approach. For instance, there was a 13% drop in reported violent crime in 2022 (Holder & Akinnibi, 2022). In the same breath, police arrests dropped by 11%, indicating that the FDIs are working and police are adopting alternative punishment according to the focused deterrence initiative. The data is particularly striking since, in Austin, another Texas city, the murder rate rose by 86% (Holder & Akinnibi, 2022). The focused deterrence approach has successfully deterred violent crime in Dallas, Texas.

Conclusion

Overall, community-based police initiatives to address local problems have proved more effective than traditional responses. One such initiative is the focused deterrence approach, in which law enforcers select specific locations and crimes, targeting highly risky individuals from continuing their criminal activities. FDI is particularly effective because it targets children in high-risk and toxic environments before they evolve to become criminals. Social service organizations and law enforcers reform such children through education, while some are taken by social services. Community leaders also help law enforcers identify high-risk crimes and individuals to transform them. The declining violent crime rates in Dallas indicate that focused deterrence is effective in crime control.

References

Dallas Police Department. (2021). Violent crime reduction plan. Dallaspolice.net. https://dallaspolice.net/Shared%20Documents/violent-crime-reduction-plan.pdf

Frank, C. (2005). How social service delivery can prevent crime: Protecting our children and youth. SA Crime Quarterly, 2005(13), 15-21.

Holder, S., & Akinnibi, F. (2022, February 3). As violent crime falls in Dallas, answers go beyond policing. Bloomberg. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-02-03/defying-national-trend-violent-crime-in-dallas-is-down

Scott, M. (2017). Strategies for policing innovation problem-oriented guides for police response guide Series No. 13 focused deterrence of high-risk individuals. https://popcenter.asu.edu/sites/default/files/spi_focused_deterrence_pop_guide_

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Write an 825-word paper on successful community problem-solving.

Identify a specific problem in your Dallas, Texas community that has been solved through a law enforcement initiative, If possible, base your paper on an interview you conduct with the person or persons responsible for creating and administering the program.

Community Problem-Solving- Law Enforcement Problem-Solving Initiatives

Include at least four peer-reviewed references.

Format your paper consistent with APA guidelines.