Introduction
The strategic task force is committed to ensuring these groups of teenagers and young adults who descend commercial stores are apprehended. The operation will be a collaborative effort of 6 departmental units and other agencies within the criminal justice system. The six units include the Chief of Police, Special Operations Division, Patrols, Investigations Division, Civilian Unit, and Support Service Division. The units will work together with each performing specific and clearly outlined roles.
Discussion
The Chief of Police (COP) is the highest-ranking officer and oversees all operations in the police department. The main administrative duties of COP include planning and directing the operations of the police department in enforcing the law and protecting life and property (Moule et al., 2019). Most importantly, the Chief of Police is actively involved in proposing new legislation related to law enforcement. The unit helps provide a clear direction with regard to combating crime and maintaining law and order. Therefore, COP was included to help manage and direct all other units to ensure they perform the assigned duties within the specified timeframe.
The Chief of Police will also work closely with other unit heads in developing response strategies and assigning duties for each unit. As explicated by Moule et al. (2019), COP is responsible for handling any emerging incidents through proper planning and implementation. Overall, the Chief of Police was included in the task force to receive the final report and findings of the task force.
Special Operations Division (SOD) comprises highly specialized individuals whose mission is to support the patrol operations through developing special tasks and deployment of special personnel. SOD plays an important role in responding tactically to any critical incident and, at the same time, provides support to police departments in the apprehension of criminals/offenders. This unit, as explicated by Katoch (2019), handles gang-related investigations.
Therefore, this unit is important to the task force, especially when quick responses are required in the targeted area. SOD will work closely with the investigations department to maintain a smooth running of the operation. Besides this, the unit will undertake a keen follow-up on any reported suspicious activities or plans by these groups of teenagers and young adults once their hideout is revealed. Most importantly, the unit will share with other units the strategies put in place in an effort to apprehend the culprits.
The investigation division plays a critical role in conducting research and compiling the necessary information needed to identify, track down, and apprehend criminals. The division uses its advanced skills in data collection, interpretations, and identification of hidden truths that will help deal with culprits and law offenders (Katoch, 2019). This unit was included in this task force to help with researching and identifying of hideout locations of these groups of teenagers and young adults. The unit, guided by the investigation commander, may opt to send out undercover agents to specific stores likely to be attacked by the members of the gang. Most importantly, the unit will carry out forensic analysis of CCTV camera videos and pictures for facial recognition of the law offenders. The unit will coordinate with the SOD in identifying the group’s hideout location.
The patrol division, under the leadership of the patrol commander, is the most important unit in a police department. Since the unit operates on the clock schedule, it helps a lot with executing most of the law enforcement roles – through timely and preventive patrols. According to Trinkner et al. (2019), the unit exists to provide support during public hazards and disruptions resulting from emergencies and disasters. This unit was chosen to help with identifying most of the members in these groups way before they reach the targeted group – they help prevent a crime from happening. Similarly, the unit will help provide critical information on any suspicious activities near stores and hot spots.
The Civilian Unit is the most important asset of the police department. A typical civilian unit is made up of the following positions: civilian investigators, correctional staff, crime analysts, community outreach, dispatchers, fleet management, and forensic technicians. These groups work hand-in-hand with the police department. Therefore, this unit was chosen because it is made up of individuals with specialized skills that will help with the investigation process.
The Support Service Division (SSD) exists to provide assistance whenever necessary in order to advance the operations of the police department. SSD is also responsible for overseeing the operations at the emergency communication center. Therefore, the Support Service Division was included in this task force to help manage the entire operational scheme and all the activities performed by prospect units. Similarly, SSD was included to guide the process of developing a steady communication strategy to be utilized by other units.
Departmental Unit not Included in the Task Force
The first unit not included in the task force is the Organized Crime Unit which is involved in many different types of criminal activities such as drug trafficking and national crimes that are threats to security. This unit was left out because the crimes being committed by these groups can be handled by other units – they have not yet become a national threat. The second unit is the Crime Against Person Unit which deals with murder, assault, rape, robbery, bribery, and burglary –these crimes affect individuals (Varano et al., 2019). Therefore, this unit was not included in the task force because the type of crime to be addressed is mass stealing and there is no form of assault involved.
The third unit is the Police Canine Unit which works with highly trained dogs. These dogs help prevent crime through smell and hearing. This unit is often called upon to search for explosives, locating missing or injured individuals as well as trafficking offenders (Sandrin et al., 2022). The police Canine Unit was excluded because it would raise alarm and make the young adult offenders shift to other areas. The main aim of this task force is to locate and apprehend these groups. The last unit is the Economic Crime Unit which handles cases on a large scale such as fraud. This unit handles complex crimes that require time, resources, and special attention. This unit was not included because the problem being addressed has nothing to do with fraud.
Non-Departmental Units
The task force will also rely on the experience and specific roles of two non-departmental units from the crime justice system. These departments will offer assistance where necessary in an effort to deal with the crime within the shortest time possible. The first department is the information technology department including Public Information and Media. This unit will help add efficiency to the developed crime-fighting strategies that will be used to locate, track, and apprehend law offenders. Similarly, this unit will guide the team in handling the CCTV cameras located in hotspot stores. For instance, the unit will be used to identify and interpret the body language and expressions of different people under the camera. The unit has members with excellent eyesight and strong concentration.
Conclusion
The second unit that must be included in the task force is the school’s department under the leadership of school resource officers. The school departments work closely with police departments to keep crime out of school. Police officers, on the other hand, are sometimes assigned to teach anti-drug classes. Since most of these group members are teenagers and young adults, school departments will help a lot in identifying them – most of them might be high school or college students.
References
Katoch, L. G. P. (2019). Special operations case studies. Lancer Publishers LLC.
Moule Jr, R. K., Burruss, G. W., Parry, M. M., & Fox, B. (2019). Assessing the direct and indirect effects of legitimacy on public empowerment of police: A study of public support for police militarization in America. Law & Society Review, 53(1), 77-107. Web.
Sandrin, R., Simpson, R., &Gaub, J. E. (2022). An experimental examination of the perceptual paradox surrounding police canine units. Journal of Experimental Criminology, (7)1-11. Web.
Trinkner, R., Kerrison, E. M., & Goff, P. A. (2019). The force of fear: Police stereotype threat, self-legitimacy, and support for excessive force. Law and human behavior, 43(5), 421. Web.
Varano, S. P., Kelley, P., &Makhlouta, N. (2019). The city of Brockton’s “champion plan”: The role of police departments in facilitating access to treatment. International journal of offender therapy and comparative criminology, 63(15-16), 2630-2653. Web.