Crime Control in New York - Two Strategies

• NCJ Number: 88032
• Journal: Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology Volume: 73 Issue: 3 Dated: (Fall 1982) Pages: 985-993
• Author(s): R J McGuire
• Date Published: 1982
• Length: 9 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

New York City's targeting of violent and habitual offenders for apprehension and prosecution along with the concentration of police foot patrol in high-crime areas has facilitated dealing with the increase in serious crime in a cost-effective way.

Abstract

Rising crime and diminishing criminal justice resources require the criminal justice system to focus on that small percentage of persons who commit a high percentage of serious crimes. New York City has done this by creating the Felony Augmentation Program. This was established as a pilot project in 1980 to identify career criminals currently at large in the community and focus police and prosecutorial resources on their arrest and conviction. The project has developed files and persons with serious robbery or violent crime histories. Upon arrest of a target, his/her file is transmitted to the district attorney to assist in the prosecution of the current alleged offense, help the court in making bail decisions, and facilitate priority handling of the case. The Career Criminal Command is responsible for building targeted cases, public surveillance and apprehension of selected targets, and postarraignment investigations as needed. The Command further provides for followup evaluations of the project through daily interaction between police detectives and the assistant prosecutors assigned to cases. In a further effort to deal with rising crime, the Neighborhood Stabilization Unit patrol concept was introduced. This patrol was established to prevent street crime and provide a high-profile uniformed presence in the city. This was accomplished by the assignment of 670 rehired police officers and 90 precinct anticrime officers to 19 units citywide. The officers in these units perform uniform foot patrol. The wide acceptance of these units inside and outside the department confirms the program's worth. Eleven footnotes are provided.