We've heard many times and by many people that an increased police presence in various communities–urban and rural, business and residential, etc–will reduce crime. This strategy requires some deeper analysis as opinions differ.
Increased police presence, even jointly with the military, can contribute to the public's sense of safety. Citizen's fear of crime may eventually decrease. However, some scholars argue that a constant presence of officers may create further fear in citizen's minds as it's a constant reminder that it's not safe.
Another proposition is that the continuous presence of officers will have diminishing effects after a while. However, there's no doubt that this measure can facilitate a faster response time to blue-collar crimes once reported and officers are notified quickly.
How do criminals see it? Many criminals are strategising just as law enforcement officials and the public. If criminals (as a gang or individually) want to commit a crime, they will find a way to do so. No amount of police presence will deter them. It will force them to find alternative ways to commit the crime!
More police presence in the public, however, isn't an innovative way of crime fighting. It's the traditional way that only goes so far in contemporary times. Modern technology, for example, can be used to create a heightened police presence.
Criminals know that an increased police public presence cannot be sustained for a medium to long term. It will eventually whittle away for practical reasons. Criminals will just lie low until the time is right. Criminals' intelligence network will direct them where the police are present or absent.
Thus, crime displacement will be heightened. This is where crimes are displaced from one area to another. Additionally, crime shifting will take place, eg, rather than engaging in crime type A, they may now engage in crime type B to avoid the increased police presence. Therefore, with crime displacement and crime shifting, crime may not be reduced by any notable number.
As the criminals pick up on patterns of the police presence and react accordingly, the police must have random public presence in various public spaces and at varying times to confuse the criminals, as well as, predict as accurately as possible and deal with crime displacement and crime shifting!
Increased police presence in the public can assist in greater crime detection, that is, they may be able to catch those who fail this trap. For example, they may catch some criminals who engage in crimes of passion like domestic violence. Here, usually, these criminals will commit the crime whether or not the police are there, usually out of rage, anger, jealousness, etc. Therefore, the crime figures may increase as people may report more or be caught more with the increased police presence.
The opposite type of crime is the premeditated one. Here, the criminals have the time to plan their attack and move around the increased police presence.
There are many types of crimes that may continue to go undetected with an increased police presence in the public, eg, drug trafficking, white-collar crimes, arms and ammunition trafficking. These are mainly premeditated crimes and can continue to take place, police presence or not.
Increased police presence in the communities brings in the familiarity factor. When officers are placed in the same community for some time, they're more likely to become too familiar with people there (criminals and non-criminals) and may drop their guard in terms of preventing and detecting criminals.
Thus, a judicious mixture of both familiarity and distance is needed between officers and community. Also, the potential for officers to be involved in bribery, turning a blind eye and abuse of power also increases. The flip side of officers being in more danger as well as threatened by the criminal element also increases.
Would this proposed increase in police presence in the public now require a strengthened code of conduct for officers, clear dos and don'ts, a special hotline for citizens to call, etc? In other words, should there be increased protection for both officers and citizenry from all kinds of allegations that may come forward? We must always be forward-thinking.
It's long overdue for a citizen oversight body to be established to monitor police activities in the various communities among other things. Are the Police Complaints Authority and the Professional Standard Bureau of the police service ready in terms of additional resources to deal with any upsurge in matters that may come before them?
Increased police presence in the public will come at a significant human resource cost to the TTPS, even to the military if they are a part of it. Is it that officers will be taken away from what they did before to engage in this activity? Then, will other areas be weakened? We don't want these answers in the public for obvious reasons but it's something that must be worked out internally.
The Community Comfort Patrol (CCP) initiative which is being discontinued from January 1, 2017 was established with increased public presence in mind. Now, the police service and/or the military must fill this gap and mandate; probably with Special Reserve Police officers also.
The CISPS is a registered institution with the Accreditation Council of Trinidad and Tobago (ACTT). Tel: 223-6999, 299-8636, info@caribbeansecurityinstitute.com or www.caribbeansecurityinstitute.com