Analysis of crimestoppers Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Analysis of crimestoppers - Research Paper Example Crimestoppers is a national program that was begun on a local, regional and national level to fight crime.The program brings together law enforcement,private citizens,the media to find criminals.This program began when a detective in Albuquerque,NM became concerned about the many crimes that were unsolved and that the leads had gone cold. At the time, a young college student was killed and they could not find any other leads about this crime. He realized that there was someone in the community that could help solve the murder of this college student and he knew that people would come forward if they could do it anonymously, they would be paid for a lead that led to solving the crime and the media televised the first â€Å"Crime of the Week.† Within 72 hours, three men were arrested who had committed the killing of the college student and they realized this was a good idea; Crimestoppers officially began on September 8, 1976. To date, Crimestoppers has been showed to reach all corners of the world and they have a particular presence in â€Å"Nation/Regions of the United States, Canada, Caribbean and Latin America, Europe, Australia, and the South/Western Pacific† (Crimestoppers USA, par. 4). The Crime Triangle the Program Addresses Crimestoppers attempts to address all aspects of the crime triangle. They realize that someone in the community knows when a crime is committed and they know who has committed the crime. They will help law enforcement when they have three issues satisfied: Fear of reprisal An attitude of apathy Reluctance to get involved Crimestoppers is able to resolve these issues by providing each person with a code number that keeps their tip anonymous and by rewarding them with up to $1000 when they supply information that eventually leads to the arrest of the perpetrator (Crimestoppers USA, 2011). By resolving these issues and putting the program in place, law enforcement is able to resolve the three aspects of the triangle: They m ake the community more aware of the fact that there is someone who has committed a crime, they identify the individual that had the crime committed against them and they show how the opportunity was made to create the crime (Houston Police Department, n.d.). By doing so, the community becomes safer and people are more prone to let law enforcement know where an individual resides who has committed the crime in question. Analysis of Crime Stopper’s Success Crimestoppers states that they have â€Å"an average conviction rate of approximately 95% on cases solved by a tip to the program† (Crimestoppers USA, 2011, par. 8). This conviction rate is based on the national average. In order to understand their success more specifically, the information is found in a variety of programs. Hoffman (2010) suggests that the Houston branch of Crimestoppers is â€Å"the most effective unit in the nation† (par 1). The Houston branch generally receives about 2500 calls, 500 which a re good and those 500 lead to about 50 arrests. In this city people can be paid up to $5000 if their tip lead to an arrest. In 2009, this meant that â€Å"825 felons were prosecuted because of Crimestoppers.† (Hoffman, 2010, par. 6). According to Gordon-Gibson (2010) from 1976 to 2010, 829,603 arrests were made, 1,277,325 cases were cleared, US $2,006,059,318 in property was recovered and US $7,869,309,917 worth of drugs were seized. In 2011, these statistics have grown to 893,691 arrests being made worldwide, 1,358,830 cases cleared, $2,151,864,229 worth of property recovered and a total of $8,082,482,485 drugs seized. These statistics show that Crimestoppers has had success over many years in solving crimes with the help of the community and the media. (Crimestoppers International, 2011) Why Crimestoppers Works (Critical Analysis of the Effectiveness of the Program) According to Gordon-Gibson (2010) there are several reasons why Crimestoppers works. Individuals who want to report crimes can do so anonymously so they are not put in the position of confronting the criminal.