CRJ105 Assignment 1: UCR Performance TaskDennisha Mobley 10-27-2018 Karina Arzumanova Uniform Crime Report is often used to put together reliable information as well as identify if there are any problems such as manslaughter, murder, robbery, assault, theft, rape, etc. to be used in law enforcement. The Uniform Crime Program was established back in 1929 by the International Association of Chiefs of Police to fulfill the need for useful uniform crime statistics for the entire nation. A year later, the FBI given the task of collecting, publishing, and archiving all those statistics. We now have a number of four annual publications, Hate Crime Statistics, National Incident-Based Reporting System, Crime in the United States, and Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted are being produced from data received from well over 18,000 universities/colleges, city, state, county, tribal, and federal law enforcement agencies who are willing to join and help participate in the Uniform Crime Report program.
The crime data are then submitted either directly to the FBI’s UCR program or ran through a state UCR Program. The Uniform Crime Report program has been convenient as well as a very helpful tool for law enforcements, researchers, executives, any students who are currently studying criminal justice, as well as to anyone who may be seeking information on crimes in the nation or a specific area for whatever personal reason. This information is always accessible and available and can be searched on other programs such as the Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted (LEOKA) Program, the Hate Crime Statistics Program, as well as the traditional Summary Reporting System (SRS) and the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). Although, there is no way to run away from crime and criminals completely, the Uniform Crime Report gives residents in different communities and even business owners an insight of what the crime rates are in the area as well as how it can be an impact to them. Crime rates is a count of crimes complied to estimate the effectiveness of a crime control policy as well as the impact of crime victimization.
The crime rates are a calculation that shows the total number of index crimes per 100,000 population. Later, the FBI eventually concluded to drop the additional calculation of the crime index rate in the year of 2004. The index is to provide measures that don’t rely too much on one factor but also showing the controlling of the overall population size. Historically, the UCR has been divided amongst two parts. Within part I, crimes normally consist of property crime and the major felonies that are thought to be more serious, occur more often than others, and have a greater chance of actually being reported to Law enforcement.
These crimes are things such as murder and non-negligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson. In the hierarchy, criminal homicide being the highest and arson being the lowest. Part II contains the non-index offenses and are not used within the calculation of the crime rate. Those crimes that fall into that category are, simple assault, forgery and counterfeiting, fraud, embezzlement, receiving stolen property, vandalism, illegal carrying of weapons, prostitution and related offenses, sex offenses (e.g., statutory rape), drug law violations, liquor law violations, public drunkenness, disorderly conduct, vagrancy, curfew violations/loitering, runaways, and all other violations of state and local laws excluding traffic violation. A clear and thorough examination of the Uniform Crime Report and its relationship to other sources like the National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS) can be quite useful for being able to understand not only crimes but also understanding criminals as well.
It is not a hundred percent certain whether an estimate can be made for the actual crimes committed because of a few reasons. Not all crimes that are committed are even known about because they aren’t reported making it that some crimes may only be known by the one committing the crime. Sometimes law enforcement also purposefully conceals recorded crimes. Some offenses are unsupported crimes or defined by officers doing the investigation as not constituting a criminal matter.
This usually happens when the after a thorough investigation, the investigating officer concludes that there just wasn’t enough evidence available or collected to say that such a crime took place. Not necessarily saying the victim isn’t telling the truth but there just isn’t enough solid proof to back up their story. According to recent released statistics because there was an increase in thefts, Happy Town, GA has had a five percent rate increase in major crimes reported in 2015. There were 214 thefts reported in 2015, compared to only 167 that were reported the year before.
With the increase of crimes, only one arson crime was reported in 2014. According to Happy Towns Police Department crime statistics over a five-year period, as the population decreased, the crime rates increased. For Murder and nonnegligent manslaughter in the year 2010 with the population of 168,010, stats went from 0 to 7 by 2015 with the population decreasing to 125,336. Forcible rape went from 2 to 12, robbery- 36 to 56, aggravated assault- 72 to 86, burglary- 10 to 18, larceny/theft-162-214, and motor vehicle theft went from 17 to 21. Unlike Happy Town, GA, — Frown Town police had been reporting a stunning 17 percent drop in the village’s annual crime rate. The opposite of Happy Town, as their population increased within five years, the crime rate dropped.
Smooth Town, GA, an average township of 156,000 in Hipster County has reached its lowest in violent and property crimes within the past five years according to preliminary statistics from the Smooth Town Police Department. The drop started with a major decline in property-related crimes to 260 last year, far below the five-year average of being 225. There were 120 crimes against people in 2012, this is listed as being a little above the five-year normal rates with larceny taking on the highest of them all. Cool Town, GA, more like an informal like County community is listed as the fourth suburb to have made the top five in the state. Because of this, in 2015 authorities are now publicly acknowledging the work of all police officers and a partnership within the community for helping them achieve a crime rate that is the lowest in five years.
According to the police department statistics, the city’s overall crime rate had decreased by at least four percent in the year of 2015. This makes an 18 percent decrease just within the last two years alone. Violent crimes also decreased by a little more than four percent. However, property crimes remained the same but was listing as the sixth lowest rate for property crimes. Regardless of where you are, you can never eliminate crime completely.
Based off the statistics from the police department of each town shows that crime can occur anywhere. No matter the population size, crime is going to be everywhere but luckily, we do have access to these Uniform Crime Reports that can help you have an idea of what a specific area can be like to help you conclude if you want to build a family or business in the area. Because it breaks down the different crimes into categories allowing you to be able to get a better understanding of which crime is more likely to occur than others.
