Goals and Vision Statements

Running heading: LINCOLN, NEBRASKA POLICE DEPARTMENT NEED ASSESSMENT 1

LINCOLN, NEBRASKA POLICE DEPARTMENT NEED ASSESSMENT 6

Lincoln, Nebraska Police Department Need Assessment

Student’s Name

Institutional Affiliation

Date

Lincoln, Nebraska Police Department Need Assessment

Introduction

In 1989, the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies accredited the Police department. The police department focusses on ensuring consistency, fairness, and professionalism in the provision of the policing services. Due to the increase in the number of hacktivists, the department aims at bolstering the sector. Community policing is a fundamental role improved by proper training and allocation of the needed resources. The resources may be human, physical, and financial. This paper focusses on conducting a need assessment for Lincoln, Nebraska department based on the mentioned objectives.

Goals and vision of the department

For effective policing, there is a need to complement the common goals and vision. Cultural competence or community competence is essential in policing. The police service should be aware of the surrounding, which has proved to influence the behavior. Behavior affects the crime rate as criminals can effectively evaluate the environment for the assurance that will succeed. For example, drug peddlers associate littered streets and abandoned houses as the best environment for his business. Through cultural community competence, the department will be useful in curbing such crimes.

The police department needs to analyze crime factors. This has been an effective strategy in the prevention of situational crimes. The crimes include the prevention of robberies of banks and stores. The crime factors have been attributed to causing more trouble to the citizenry. The identification of the relationship between community issues and the physical surrounding calls for the systematic analysis of the environmental conditions. This analysis should be carried using questionnaires in the form of surveys, which are conducted by members of the public and or the police officers. This will also assist in understanding the community within.

Hybrid modeling as a strategy has been effective in boosting the security aspect of a different organization. The concept has been associated with “Hybrid blending,” whereby the respective society produces staff to act as volunteers in the police services (Fenner, 2014). In most cases, these staff will provide non-essential services. These individuals work together with the trained officers as they are trained too. In some cases, the officers can be deployed as police reservists.

Factors considered in the analysis

The needs of the community as far as policing is concerned is crucial in the provision of services. This is based on the issues bothering Lincoln society. Based on data obtained from the neighborhood scout, the crime rate is high in Lincoln. The safest areas include Yankee Hill, Salt hill, Pioneers Blvd, among other streets. The crime rate indicates that more crimes are associated with violence and property. Violent crimes include assault, rape, and murder (Neighborhood Scout, 2020). Property crimes include burglary, theft, and motor vehicle theft. These factors are related to the neighborhood factors, which should be critically evaluated to determine the causalities. The discussed vision and goals will assist in mitigating the challenges at the community levels, these societies.

Situational analysis will assist in addressing issues of theft in the area, as the police officers will have analyzed the environment and curb any robbery. Community competence will also assist in providing more information about the society living around (PERF & USA, 1993). This strategy has also been effective in addressing some crimes such as rape, which can be addressed through community competence. Analysis of crimes will evaluate the susceptible areas.

Community need

Based on the analysis of the crimes in the region, the community needs the protection of their property, as theft cases are high. Theft can be curbed through policies such as the analysis of the areas of the crimes that are situational analysis, which has been effective in preventing bank thefts. The police service should focus on analyzing the crime region. The creation of a connection with the community will benefit the police service. This can be through hybrid modeling, which employs locals as police reservists. Through this strategy, the department will get information about the crime-prone areas. The policy will also assist in reducing the cases of burglary. Officers in civilians in the form of police reservists may assist in surveillance.

Rape cases that are on the rise in the area need to be addressed. The police service in Lincoln should employ the “hybrid modeling” strategy, which is economical and applicable to any level of law enforcement (Fenner, 2014). The approach is mostly applied to diversify the police service by making it similar to the society they serve. It is also useful in bridging the community gaps, which may be felt by these societies. To address the rape cases, the community needs to trust the police service, which is only possible through the criteria. This model makes policing flexibility, thereby not limited by other factors that may inhibit the collection of information from the community. Since community policing has to be a priority and not a buzz, the Lincoln Department needs to focus on addressing the issue of rape, which is detrimental to the physical and psychological wellbeing of the victim.

Conclusion

Needs assessment of Lincoln Nebraska indicates that there is a need to reformulate their goals and include situational analysis, hybrid modeling of the service (Fenner, 2014). The police service also needs to focus on community competence, which will assist in addressing issues of rape, burglary, and theft, which prevail in most areas in Lincoln. This will help in achieving the ultimate goals of the department, which include community policing.

References

Fenner. L, (2014). Hybrid Policing Models — Are They Possible? The Journal of California Law Enforcement

Neighborhood Scout, (2020). LINCOLN, NE CRIME RATES, https://www.neighborhoodscout.com/ne/lincoln/crime

Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), & United States of America. (1993). Police Guide to Surveying Citizens and Their Environment.