Why Crime Is Down

Here's this morning's central Texas crime stories.

• Man guilty in Killeen 8 liner parlor murder
  
• Killeen Police nab three who might be serial robbers
• Temple PD investigating gas station robbery 
• Man indicted for turning misdemeanor shoplifting into felony aggravated robbery

Why Crime Is Down
The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund blog has a piece from Chuck Wexler, the head of the Police Executive Research Forum.In his post, Wexler discusses why crime rates are down across the nation. In his piece Chuck writes:

We have seen a sea change in how the police define their mission. There was a time when the conventional thinking was that no matter what the police did, it made no difference, and police were not held accountable for increases in crime.

Chuck argues that the main reason for the drop in crime rates is that communities are holding police accountable and this has forced police to focus on preventing crime problems as opposed to solving them after the fact. When you think about it, this approach makes much more sense then the backwards approach of trying to solve the crime after it occurs. Trying to solve the crime post occurrence is a terribly inefficient way to do things.

Chuck's article dovetails nicely with a recent post by Kristen Ziman over at The Crime Map. Kristen compares the leadership approach that the visionary computer company Apple with how most police departments work. From Kristen's piece:

Questioning the status quo, if done respectfully and appropriately, forces us to seek new solutions to the common problems we face in our profession. Eliciting input from all levels of the organization is the newest trend cited in law enforcement management books. Community oriented policing emphasizes partnerships, and the concept is being shifted to the organization as well as the community. The bureaucratic police department is a thing of the past and the power once associated with the top level command is being relinquished to line level personnel. The shift in power creates a dichotomy of sorts because those who hold command positions ultimately find that giving away power leaves them with more of it. The result is increased morale and a higher level of job satisfaction from all members of the organization.

No matter your position, whether you are a lowly civilian police employee or the head of your agency, are you looking for new ways of tackling crime problems in your jurisdiction? Are you learning about what has worked for other agencies and trying to figure out how that can be applied to your crime problems? The mark of a professional is that you are constantly trying to improve your trade-craft.