CRIME PREVENTION AND COST EVALUATION

Get Complete Project Material File(s) Now! »

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW ON CRIME PREVENTION AND COST EVALUATION

INTRODUCTION

Crime and development have strong linkages that deserve due attention. Internal instability and high crime rates are detrimental and create hurdles in the path of economic growth and development. Most nations facing such problems are incurring huge public expenditure to build internal security and maintain peace. Toward this, police services shoulder the responsibility to create peace and stability for its community’s economic development. However, the dynamic nature of the crime and high-security needs of the public place huge financial demands on governments all over the world. This umbilical cord between crime and financial needs remains a challenging feature that warrants continual research to learn what and how other countries are performing in this regard.
Improving the quality of services rendered by the police requires the proper understanding of the effect of the amount of money that is allocated to the police in improving police operations. This critical aspect is not thoroughly looked into in Ethiopia and Tigray Regional State, in particular, thus blurring how the police should be measured on this. The evaluation of the financial part is also compounded by the fact that the presence of a larger police force discourages certain types of crime. There are also various social and psychological factors that may play a role in predisposing people to criminal acts. The common police demand when there is an upsurge in crime levels is for higher funding. Hence, this chapter is particularly devoted to the analysis of police expenditure at crime levels in a state of Tigray. Comparisons towards police budget allocation procedures and experiences in selected countries have widely been discussed to show the relational of expenditures against crime prevention to seek the community safe from crime.

CRIME PREVENTION AND COST EVALUATION

Crime is an act perpetrated by a human being in different ways. Preventing crime is not left only to police; it rather needs a concerted effort emanating from two parties of the community and police response for maintaining peace and safety. The relational obtained as a result of costs being adequate to police should be measured realistically to compare its support to affect the crime prevention strategies. This part needs to point out certain elements highly manifested in concepts of the integration between crime prevention and the necessary cost to ridicule crime and its adversaries on human cohesion and social development.

 Crime prevention

Before conducting a review of the cost of preventing crime, it is important to discuss the concept and essence of crime prevention. Crime prevention broadly implies any measures that are embarked upon to prevent the commission of criminal activities. According to Pelser (2002:41), crime prevention usually constitutes all activities that deter the incidence of specific crimes, which boils down to any activity proposed to minimise the real level of crime and/or its perceived fears.
According to Crawford and Evans (2016:6), crime prevention refers to the strategies of addressing the damage and harm, which may arise because of crime. The term consists of fear reduction; if possible, fear avoidance programs and policies that seek to provide support to the victims of crime by addressing the damaging effects of criminality. Likewise, Smith and Cornish (2003:22), explained crime prevention as groups of activities which are focused on reducing favourable conditions to commit a crime, deploying factors, for instance, risk, reward and effort to prevent offensive actions. Briefly, it is an approach to preventing crime by thwarting fertile preconditions for the crime. Later, Schneider (2010:73), described crime prevention as any pre-emptive intervention(s) designed to obstruct: (i) the likelihood of the occurrence of a criminal action at a certain location, or (ii) the onset of illegal or criminal behaviour within an individual which is usually recognised as a key priority area of policy and political interventions in countries (National Crime Prevention Institute, 2001:59).
There is evidence, which shows well-designed crime prevention strategies as helpful tools not only for preventing the committing of a crime but also helps in promoting safety to the community and contributes to the development of states. Furthermore, responsible and effective crime prevention boosts the welfare of citizens and minimises the cost related to justice systems and associated social costs resulting from crime (United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2007:8). Strategies for preventing crime and measures intended to mitigate the level and frequency of crime and their potential damages on individuals and societies, constituting crime related fears, by affecting their causes. Child victimisation, youth and urban crime, organised crime and gangs, corruption and trafficking, segmenting similar drivers and root causes, such as poverty, inequality, and discrimination. Therefore, prevention of crime needs an adequate understanding of the core crime causes, victimisation, and interrelationship of various forms of crime, inclusive policies, and the participation of all state administration stakeholders and government hierarchies together with private sector and civil society. On top of addressing risky (or negative) factors, crime prevention efforts should emphasise on preventive factors, which can help to improve the resilience of citizens or individuals and communities to risk. Besides, to be more successful, crime prevention must be part of the socio-economic development agendas, prominently in countries where the rate of crime is disproportionately high (Fournier-Ruggles, 2011:19; United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, 2007:16).

Cost evaluation

After describing the cost of preventing crime through prevention programs, it is essential to assess the cost that crime per se has had, though it is hard to find comprehensive data on it. For instance, the total costs of crime in the Canadian society were getting considerable, with staggering trends, such as $100 billion compiled for the year 2008 (Zhang, 2011:62). The cost of crime which is recorded alone in other areas such as Northern Ireland, England, and Wales was estimated to be 17 billion British Pound for the year 2007 (International Centre for the Prevention of Crime, 2012:7). In many of the countries, an attempt is made to summarise the types and amount of crime committed periodically, but there is limited data on the cost of recorded crimes. For instance, in the case of South Africa, in 2002/03, while the overall crime levels peaked in the country, the overall crime rate has decreased by 21 per cent. However, this trend changed later when a 3 per cent increase in total crime was evidenced in the two-year duration of 2007/08 to 2009/10, induced significantly by the rise in property possession related crimes such as commercial crimes and theft. Later, between 2009/2010 and 2010/2011, total crime rates decreased again by a marginal 2.4 per cent (Institute for Security Studies, 2012:2). The total estimate of the cost of crime is derived from an amalgamation of the following:

• costs of the criminal justice system (for instance: police, correction, courts),
• costs related to victim or victim costs (for instance: productivity losses, medical attention, damaged or property),
• costs related to third-party (for instance: services, shelters, compensation), and
• estimates of pain/suffering and loss of life (Fournier-Ruggles, 2011:36).

There is limited literature related to the cost of crime, though this is comparatively better in some countries, for instance, Australia, the UK, New Zealand, and the United States. In each of them, important studies have been conducted to come up with a comprehensive estimate of the cost of common crime categories. Subsequent work done in these countries on either cost of crime and/or crime prevention evaluation has generally been relied on these studies. Similarly, there have been other studies attempting towards an independent estimation of comparably specific types of crime costs such as costs of violence (Corso, Mercy, Simon, Finkelstein, & Miller, 2007:85) or cost of sexual violence (Miller, Taylor & Sheppard, 2007:62), the costs of alcohol-related crime (Miller, Levy, Spicer & Taylor, 2006:97), the cost associated with fear of crime (Dolan, Peasgood, & White, 2008:104), and others such as the cost of crime in specific states, and the cost of mental health care (Dolan & White, 2007:125).
For the Australian Government, the police services constitute the biggest share in the criminal justice system, contributing to about 71 per cent of the overall expenditure. Services related to corrective actions contribute to a further 23 per cent, while costs related to criminal courts administration contributes to the remaining 6 per cent (Australian Institute of Criminology, 2013:106). As of the Australian Government of 2012, the sum of real recurrent expenditure (deducting own source revenues) on justice for the year 2010–11 was $13.1billion. Out of this figure, approximately $12.5billion was spent on activities of criminal justice (Common Wealth of Australia, 2012:18). The remaining $635.5million was spent on the management of civil courts. Since 2002–03, government’s expenditure on criminal justice, in the case of Australia has increased by 46 per cent overall and with a yearly average of 9 per cent (Australian Institute of Criminology, 2013:106).
The sum of real recurrent expenditure (deducting own source revenues) on justice during the year 2010/2011 was $13.1 billion (Australian Institute of Criminology, 2013:106). From this, as much as $12.5 billion was allocated and spent on criminal justice. The rest, which is $635.5 million, was spent to administer civil courts. Beginning from 2002/2003, the expenditure made for criminal justice has escalated by 46 per cent in overall figures and with an annual average of 9 per cent. Police services require the largest share of the budget within the criminal justice system, taking 71 per cent of the total allocated budget. Corrective services took 23 per cent of the budget, while the criminal court’s administration took 6 per cent. Policing is primarily the state’s responsibility, and its territory government is policing organs. On behalf of the ACT Government, the Australian Federal Police gives a community policing service in the Australian Capital Territory. Funding for these services usually comes from budgets of the state and territory government yet with little grants from the Government of Australia (Common Wealth of Australia, 2012:18-19).
Total recurrent expenditure for police services in Australia during 2010/2011 was about $9.1billion, implying $404 per capita in Australia which is $524 for every Australian adult. Salaries took a 70 per cent share (i.e., $7billion) of the expenditure. Real gross recurrent expenditure (less payroll tax and revenue from own sources) in 2010/2011 was $8.8 billion, which is $392 per capita or $507 per Australian adult. Throughout Australia, per adult expenditure of $524 was spent on police services in 2010/2011. In 2010/2011, Victoria spent $443 per each adult for police services. However, the Northern Territory spent ($1,657 per adult, which is the largest. Most of the people who involve in the police service delivery are police officers who are sworn employees who are recognised under the legislation of policing (Common Wealth of Australia, 2012:18-19). Sworn employees exercise the power of a police officer, such as arrest, detain, summons, fingerprint, warnings, and search.

CHAPTER ONE: GENERAL ORIENTATION 
1.1 INTRODUCTION
1.2 BACKGROUND .
1.3 RATIONALE OF THE RESEARCH (PROBLEM STATEMENT)
1.4 AIM OF THE RESEARCH
1.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS
1.6 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES
1.7 PURPOSE OF THE RESEARCH
1.8 KEY CONCEPTS
1.9 DELIMITATION OF THE STUDY
1.10 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
1.11 POPULATION
1.12 DATA COLLECTION
1.13 PILOT STUDY
1.14 EVALUATION OF BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION
1.15 DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION
1.16 DATA ANALYSIS STRATEGY
1.17 VALIDITY
1.18 RELIABILITY
CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW ON CRIME PREVENTION AND COST EVALUATION 
2.1 INTRODUCTION
2.2 CRIME PREVENTION AND COST EVALUATION
2.3 POLICE FUNDING AND EXPENDITURE IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
2.4 POLICE OPERATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
2.5 POLICE FUNDING AND EXPENDITURE IN THE UNITED KINGDOM
2.6 POLICING IN THE UNITED KINGDOM
2.7 A SYNTHESIS OF POLICE EXPENDITURE IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE UNITED KINGDOM
2.8 POLICING IN CANADA
2.9 POLICING IN UGANDA .
2.10 SUMMARY
CHAPTER THREE: POLICE FUNDING AND EXPENDITURE IN ETHIOPIA 
3.1 INTRODUCTION
3.2 ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE OF THE POLICE
3.3 FUNCTIONS OF THE ETHIOPIAN FEDERAL POLICE (EFP)
3.4 POLICE AND MANAGEMENT OF CRIME PREVENTION SERVICE
3.5 THE STRUCTURE OF THE ETHIOPIAN FEDERAL POLICE
3.6 THE SOURCES OF FUNDS FOR THE ETHIOPIAN FEDERAL POLICE (EFP)
3.7 A SYNTHESIS OF POLICE EXPENDITURE IN ETHIOPIA
3.8 CRIME, CAUSES OF CRIME AND CRIME PREVENTION
3.9 POLICE BUDGETING IN ETHIOPIA
3.10 THE BUDGET DECISION-MAKING PROCESS
3.11 SUMMARY
CHAPTER FOUR: ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF RESULTS
4.1 INTRODUCTION
4.2 BUDGET ALLOCATION PROCEDURE
4.3 CRIME PREVENTION STRATEGIES IN TIGRAY REGIONAL STATE
4.4 THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EXPENDITURE AND CRIME LEVELS IN TIGRAY REGIONAL STATE
4.5 DISTRIBUTION OF CRIME RECORDED OVER FOUR YEAR PERIOD: 2011-2014
4.6 OPERATIONAL COST AND CRIME PREVENTION
4.7 BETTER STRATEGIES FOR THE EFFECTIVENESS OF POLICE BUDGET FOR CRIME PREVENTION
4.8 SUMMARY
CHAPTER FIVE: FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 INTRODUCTION
5.2 KEY FINDINGS
5.3 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS
5.4 RECOMMENDATIONS
GET THE COMPLETE PROJECT