Problem Facing a Police Department

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This paper will attempt to solve a real-world problem facing a police department by analyzing it through the spectrum of some of the seminal minds in the field of criminology. The problem that will be analyzed is as follows: the Crime Analysis Unit at the Felsington police department employs one full-time analyst, one part-time geographic information system (GIS) specialist, and three part-time public safety assistants (PSA). The PSAs are charged with extracting information from crime reports and inputting that information into the departmentÆs records management system database. However, because the part-time PSA positions do not receive benefits, there is a high level of turnover. Due to the fact that it takes six months to train a PSA, the turnover is a major cause for concern within the department because it increases the workload for other employees. This paper will analyze the criminological theories of Sheldon and Eleanor Glueck, Clifford Shaw and Henry McKay, and Karl Marx. It will then use each different analysis to examine the problem facing the Felsington police department and attempt to solve it using the theories of these criminologists.

Sheldon and Eleanor Glueck were trailblazers in the field of juvenile delinquency. Their seminal study, begun in 1939, matched a sample of 500 institutionalized and delinquent boys in Massachusetts with 500 non-delinquent boys in Boston. The Gluecks believed that those who had come before them in the field of juvenil

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designed to perpetuate and protect those valuesö (Shaw and McKay, 104). These criminologists understood that even in the most disorganized and crime-ridden inner city neighborhoods parents attempted to teach their children moral values. However, they also realized that in these disorganized communities the parents had to compete for their childrenÆs attention with criminal influences such as gangs and other criminals that do not exist in more affluent and organized communities (Ibid, 104). According to Shaw and McKay, the difference between affluent communities that were relatively free of crime and poor crime-ridden communities was, at heart, economic. This was due to the emphasis on economic instead of personal values that occur in a city. This emphasis, combined with ôits freedom and tolerance, furnishes a favorable situation of the development of devices to improve oneÆs status, outside the conventionally accepted and approved methodsö (Ibid, 109). Crime occurred in those neighborhoods where ôthe prospect of thus enhancing oneÆs social status outweighs the chances for loss of position and prestige in the competitive struggleö (Ibid, 109). Shaw and McKay would approach the Felsington PSA problem from this econom
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Some common words found in the essay are:
Felsington PSA, Shaw McKay, Glueck Glueck, Felsington PSAs, PSAs PSAs, Karl Marx, According Marxist, PSA PSAs, Cullen Ball, Boston Gluecks, police department, crime reports, felsington police department, felsington police, juvenile delinquency, shaw mckay, psas economic incentive, criminological theory, approach felsington, economic incentive, direct result, field juvenile delinquency, lilly cullen ball, gluecks believed, information crime reports,
Approximate Word count = 1753
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)

Problem Facing a Police Department

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