CONCEPT PAPER: DISCRETION

Concept Paper: Discretion

CONCEPT PAPER: DISCRETION Concept Paper: Discretion A modern police department includes numerous units, involved into different activities performing day-to-day duties. Therefore, it is necessary to determine the role of each unit, the role of which is critical in creating of an intra-agency and enter-agency task force. The budgeting for such an activity plays important role so the chief of police has to have the full picture to be able to make the right choice. This task force must be able to fight an increase in violent crime (homicide, sexual assault and robbery) with some gang and drug relates connections which have been the subject of public, political and community demand for action. The goal is to determine six departmental units that will constitute the main core of

the task force. In addition, four other units are to be discussed in order to see why their role is not that critical to be included into the task force. It should be noted that the list of units is taken from the actual Metropolitan Police Department of District of Columbia (MPDC.dc.gov, 2012). Considering the nature of the crimes to be fought by this task force, it is necessary to determine the particular units and agencies that should be involved into the project. Thus, homicides should be managed by Major Case Victims Unit. In addition, due to the fact that gangs and organized crime are the main focus of the future task force, it is utterly important to include Firearms and Fingerprint Examination Division. Evidence Control Division will control the process of evidence examination and storage, which is utterly important for the related cases. Then, Sex Assault Unit must be the part of the new task force as well as a S.W.A.T. team. Finally, Bomb/Hazardous Devices Unit should be included as well due to the increased number of cases involving explosive materials and their potential use. In addition, it is

CONCEPT PAPER: DISCRETION necessary to include workgroup that should interconnect Drug Enforcement Administration and police units in the particular region (MPDC.dc.gov, 2012; Columbiatn.com, 2012). The Major Case Victims Unit (MCVU) is responsible for unresolved homicides and violent felony offences. It is an utterly important part of the future task force due to the obvious increase of the number of such crimes in the region. It will work on all types of homicides, involving violent offences. The unit should provide other units with operative information regarding the current situation in each case. The Firearms and Fingerprint Examination Division is to provide administrative support and oversee the effective and efficient operation of the Firearms Examination Section, Latent Fingerprint Section, and Automated Fingerprint Identification Section. (MPDC.dc.gov, 2012). This unit is needed to support investigations involving firearms and related crimes. It will provide information regarding the criminals identification and their relation to each particular case of registered and unregistered firearms use. The Evidence Control Division will be responsible for storing and controlling the

evidence in possession of the investigation team. The unit is necessary to be included into the task force to make everything relevant to the investigated cases under control and untouched by unauthorized parties. It is necessary to assure in order to avoid compromising evidence and losing the cases in court because of this (MPDC.dc.gov, 2012). The Sex Assault Unit is to be included in order to be able to investigate sexual assaults. The members of this unit are specialists in such cases and have the appropriate training and experience. The unit will be an integral part of the new task force due to the close connection between homicides and sex crimes (MPDC.dc.gov, 2012). The S.W.A.T. team (or special weapons and tactics team) is the major support action team that will provide all other units with the necessary force in case of active interaction with criminals shootings, hostage situation, etc. This team is a major force in fighting

CONCEPT PAPER: DISCRETION crimes in any region when it comes to action (MPDC.dc.gov, 2012; Columbiatn.com, 2012). It has specially trained professionals in difference areas that are capable of performing surgical operations in critical situations. The Bomb/Hazardous Devices Unit should help the new task force with assists with the identification, transport and disposal of all explosives and ordinance materials that are involved with clandestine, hostile or criminal activity. (Columbiatn.com, 2012). There are many cases that involve explosive materials use so there is a necessity in the specialized unit that will be able to manage such issues. The following units are not to be included into the new task force: the Firearms Registration Unit it is responsible for firearms registration in the region (unnecessary, because information can be obtained from FBI); the Domestic Violence Unit it is responsible for monitoring and prevention of domestic violence (unnecessary due to the different focus of the new task force); the Mobile Force is responsible for reduction and prevention of crime using short-term, proactive, high-visibility enforcement techniques (MPDC.dc.gov ,2012) (unnecessary, because it is the main focus of the new task force); and the Internal Affairs Bureau (IAB) it is responsible for anticorruption programs (unnecessary, because all members of the new task force must have impeccable reputation to serve in this joint unit) (MPDC.dc.gov ,2012). DEA is an enter-agency counteragent of the new task force that should provide

information support in the region regarding drug-related crimes such as illegal transportation, distribution, etc. The workgroup from DEA must be able to provide all necessary information in case of the necessity in order to prevent further felonies related to drug-trafficking (US DEA, 2012). FBI, as another enter-agency counteragent, should provide its workgroup to be included into the task force as well. It is important to have the representatives of FBI in the

CONCEPT PAPER: DISCRETION team due to the need in having access to the information regarding federal-scale criminals FBI.gov (2012). Security assurance is important for any company. Therefore, police, as the part of security, must be able to provide timely support and take the necessary actions. There is no such company in the modern business industry that would not implement and constantly

improve security measures of different kind. Modern security in any company or organization is a complex of physical and software solutions that should provide complete protection from very different threats, outside as well as inside. Despite the rapid development of information technologies and opportunities that cyber criminals of all kinds have gotten, good old armed assault or simple robbery has not gone anywhere. Therefore, assurance of security must be supported by physical obstacles that should either eliminate the possibility of security breach or at least hold down the criminals. To these obstacles we can address human force as well as sophisticated complex of mechanical and electronic means, like heavily shielded doors, CCTV, locks, lights, alarms, access control systems, checkpoints, etc. In addition, physical security can be additionally provided by the location of a facility, its inside and outside design, existing land use, land ownership, traffic patterns, public transportation systems, parking zone, etc. We are going to explore one of the regional branches of one of the banks. It is located at the central part of the town, on the intersection of the main and secondary streets. The main street goes through the center of the town so the traffic can be called rather heavy, depending on the time of day. The three-storey building was built for the purposes of bank only so it situated aside from other structures. It can be described as a rather massive structure that was built using a lot of marble. Therefore, building has rather small windows and does not provide access to them on the ground level. The entrance is covered by massive doors made however, from wood. As it

CONCEPT PAPER: DISCRETION has already been mentioned, the building stands aside other structures but not too far so we can say that it can be approached from at least two sides without being noticed. The branch has inbuilt garage with a number of cars that serve as transportation vehicles for different purposes. There are no structures around the bank that belong to it so we can say that garage inside the building and a number of vehicles are the only visible assets of this branch. The facility has a small parking lot near it and it is usually used for the abovementioned vehicles that wait for the instructions. The main entrance can be directly accessed from the main road; the distance between the road and doors is no larger than a sidewalk and five steps. Because of such close location to the near houses, the structure is surrounded by cameras that are installed on the building as well as on the lamp stands nearby. In order to collect the information, the building was observed from different points of view including multistoried buildings nearby. It was not appropriate to take pictures of such facility in order to not to get suspected in doing something illegal so observations were the only sources of data. In order to evaluate the building from different perspectives, including day time, the observations were performed in the morning and after closure till nightfall. It was done to see how it was illuminated in the dark hours. It would be inappropriate to say that the branch is flooded with light but there are no too dark corners where one can hide or something like that.

The inside the structure created the same impression as outside a very solid building with thick walls. During the observations, there was an opportunity to talk with one of the guards and then, after clarification of my actions and their purpose, the chief of security was able to discuss the situation and describe physical security measures available. In addition to what has been already described, the following can be added: cameras have night mode so it is not possible to hide from them. The walls around the vault are protected with extra reinforced shields from steel and armor. Finally, the facility has

CONCEPT PAPER: DISCRETION

sophisticated system of inappropriate substances recognition in water and air that come to the facility. Then, he told me that the area around the branch is controlled by hidden motion sensors that register every movement around in 100 meters when it is dark. It is implemented to notice any unusual patterns in movement around the branch at night. The neighborhood is rather safe according to the information from the local police station and reports from the bank. There are no places around where people could gather, like a night club or a bar so everything is rather calm and steady. It is a respectable neighborhood which is constantly (every three hours) patrolled by police car. There were no crimes committed near or around, at least serious. A drunk driver and kids that broke into someones house accidentally cannot be considered as serious threat to the security of the bank and any other security system. According to the observations, the design of the security system and behavior of the guards inside the building were designed to provide appropriate level of security, without extra measures. Two security guards sit in front of the main entrance, five guards are in the operation room and they do not just sit, they walk around without any predefined routes. Operation cabins have bulletproof glass installed in order to protect employees in case of problems. Cameras are installed in every room except the restrooms and surveillance is provided twenty-four-seven. As for crime prevention and security measures, including policies and procedures, the situation is the following: security guards at the front entrance monitor everything around the bank and can see the actual situation before someone could enter the facility therefore, in case of emergency, they can remotely lock the door with a special mechanism; if a suspicious person sneaks into the bank then security guards in the operation room take the situation under control and follow this person.

CONCEPT PAPER: DISCRETION

If the situation becomes more dangerous or suspicions this person can be kindly asked to follow the guards in order to clarify the situation. Thus, following these policies and procedures helps in crime prevention. There were no incidents of such kind before so there is no actual statistics of how it works. As for the night, the scheme is the same but there are only 3 guards. One scouts the area; the others monitor the situation in and around the facility, control different sensors and analyze the situation. Then they change every hour at their stations. Night shifts include checking offices on each floor. It is performed every two hours and each security guard checks his own floor if the time comes. In case of emergency, the branch is sealed until further clarification of the situation. Police officers visit the bank according to their route schedule, every several hours in order to check the situation. Once per night, two security guards check the perimeter outside. It is performed not on schedule if sensors identify something unusual around. As we can see, the situation with policies and procedures is rather clear. According to the statistics, there were no substantial security issues and few cases of trespassing were accidental. There are no substantial problems with security but it has to be said that there are only two shifts: day shift and night shift. There is a chance that people that work during the night shift could be tired, sleepy, and distracted much more than during the day shift. It could become a problem of some sort if they are not changed. Another issue that can be outlined is the situation with cameras in the operation room. Their allocation is not optimal and there are blind spots. However, the chief of security said that five guards there could mitigate this problem. The branch also has other assets that need to be protected better than the main building. The thing is that the vehicles that have been mentioned before, according to the chief of security, collect money in order to transport them to the branch. However, they

CONCEPT PAPER: DISCRETION seemed not so heavily protected or armored, so we can come to a conclusion that they are at possible risk of attack. In fact, comparing to the security measures implemented within the facility and the ones that are implemented in these vehicles, we can conclude that the risk of possible attack is critical. According to NOHS (2009), The field of Human Services is broadly defined, uniquely approaching the objective of meeting human needs through an interdisciplinary

knowledge base, focusing on prevention as well as remediation of problems, and maintaining a commitment to improving the overall quality of life of service populations. In other words, human services have the global goal to improve the overall quality of life. Modern human services provide their help in many different areas, but the most important ones at the moment are family, child, and youth service agencies, and programs dealing with alcoholism, drug abuse, family violence, and aging (NOHS, 2009). The efficiency of any organizations work depends on many factors. In our case, such organizations work more efficiently if they have support from the local authorities and communities. However, even in such cases certain barriers to services, planning, funding, or empowerment have the tendency to emerge. We need to determine these barriers in order to be able to propose solutions that could help to overcome each of them. The major barriers are as follows: lack of information regarding the problems within a community; inability to provide problem families with information regarding possible solutions of the issues they have; and the difficulties in collecting and analyzing statistical data for further evaluation. As we can see, all barriers are related with information and issues with it. Back in the old days, information technologies were not developed at all and such kind of services were even less effective in terms of the entire community. However, today we can use advantages of information technologies era in order to overcome the above-mentioned barriers. It means

CONCEPT PAPER: DISCRETION that we can use tools that can solve issues related with information and allow human services workers to focus on the other aspects of the problems within families (Domenig et al., 2007).

10

CONCEPT PAPER: DISCRETION References Columbiatn.com (2012). Police Department. Retrieved from: http://www.columbiatn.com/pdweb/specialunits.html

11

Domenig, D., Fountain, J., Schatz, E., & Brring, G. (2007). Overcoming Barriers. Retrieved from: http://idpc.net/sites/default/files/library/CORR_RP_OvercomingBarriers_EN.pdf FBI.gov (2012). The Federal Bureau of Investigation. Retrieved from: http://www.fbi.gov/ MPDC.dc.gov (2012). Metropolitan Police Department: Specialized Units. Retrieved from: http://mpdc.dc.gov/mpdc/cwp/view,a,1230,Q,537792,mpdcNav_GID,1523,MpdcNav, %7C31417%7C,,.asp NOHS (2009). What is Human Services? Retrieved from: http://www.nationalhumanservices.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article &id=88 US DEA (2012). DEA Mission Statement. Retrieved from: http://www.justice.gov/dea/agency/mission.htm

CONCEPT PAPER: DISCRETION References

12