CRJ 105 – Crime and Criminal Behavior

Week 4

Uniform Crime Report (UCR)

Performance Task Assignment #1

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SCENARIO

TASK

RUBRIC

DOCUMENT LIBRARY

CRJ 105 – Crime and Criminal Behavior

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Scenario In June of 2016 you begin your first week as an intern at the Happy Town Police Department. As an intern, you develop a good rapport with Police Chief Rodney Hurt.

On the second week of your internship you begin to ask questions (of the police officers you have been working with at the department) concerning the Uniform Crime Rate. You tell them you are taking a class at Strayer University and are interested in gaining a better understanding of statistics and the application of statistics to law enforcement.

The following day you are greeted by Sergeant Gunn. She provides you with Part I crime data over the past five years that were submitted to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for the Uniform Crime Report. The Part I information provided to you by Sergeant Gunn is a compilation of crime data drawn from four areas: Happy Town, Frown Town, Smooth Town, and Cool Town.

After a review of the crime trends, you are alarmed at the rate of crime reported in these four towns. You are now curious to dig a little deeper and make some comparisons across the data provided to you.

CRJ 105 – Crime and Criminal Behavior

© 2017 Strayer University. All Rights Reserved. This document contains Strayer University Confidential and Proprietary information and may not be copied, further distributed, or otherwise disclosed in whole or in part, without the expressed written permission of Strayer University. Page 3 of 14

Task Your task is to write a report for the Chief of Police Rodney Hurt. He will use the report for his news conference in regard to the public’s concern for the increase in crime over the past five years. In the report, you will include the following:

1. A definition and description of the Uniform Crime Report.

2. A description of the data-gathering strategy for your report and a rationale for why you

chose this technique

3. A discussion of the crime trends comparing Happy Town, Frown Town, Smooth Town,

and Cool Town over the past five years.

Your report should clearly describe all the details necessary for the Chief’s news conference. Your answers will be judged not only on the accuracy of the information you provide, but also on how thoroughly the information is covered, how effectively the report is organized, and how well your writing reflects the conventions of standard written English. While your personal values and experiences are important, please answer all the questions in this task solely on the basis of the information provided in the Document Library. (The Document Library is included in this assignment document.)

Formatting Requirements:

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

● Be four pages typed, double-spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one- inch margins on all sides. All the information you need is in the Document Library.

● Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, your name, professor’s name, course title, and date. The cover page is not included in the required assignment page length.

Self-Assessment Checklist:

Use this to check your work before you submit your assignment:

 My paper defines and describes the Uniform Crime Report.  My paper describes a data-gathering strategy and explains why I used this strategy.  My paper discusses the crime trends comparing Happy Town, Frown Town, Smooth

Town, and Cool Town over the past five years.

CRJ 105 – Crime and Criminal Behavior

Rubric Grading for this assignment will be based on the quality of your responses, logic/organization of the report, and language and writing skills, using the following rubric.

Points: 150 Assignment 1: UCR Performance Task

Criteria Unacceptable Below 70% F

Fair 70-79% C

Proficient 80-89% B

Exemplary 90-100% A

1. Define and describe the UCR report. Weight: 25%

Does not define and describe the UCR report.

Partially defines and describes the UCR report but could use more supporting details.

Satisfactorily defines and describes the UCR report.

Thoroughly defines and describes the UCR report.

2.Describe a data- gathering strategy and provide a rationale for why you chose that strategy. Weight: 25%

Does not select or incompletely describes a data-gathering strategy. Does not provide a rationale for why you chose that technique.

Partially describes a data-gathering strategy and provides a rationale for why you chose that technique. The description of the strategy and rationale need further development and supporting details.

Satisfactorily describes a data- gathering strategy and provides a rationale for why you chose that technique. Some additional supporting details would improve this section.

Thoroughly describes a data- gathering strategy and provides a well- supported rationale for why you chose that technique.

3. Discuss the crime trends comparing Happy Town, Frown Town, Smooth Town, and Cool Town over the past five years. Weight: 25%

Does not submit or incompletely discusses the crime trends comparing Happy Town, Frown Town, Smooth Town, and Cool Town over the past five years.

Partially discusses the crime trends comparing Happy Town, Frown Town, Smooth Town, and Cool Town over the past five years. Some of the trends were discussed, but this section would be improved by addressing more of the trends.

Satisfactorily discusses the crime trends comparing Happy Town, Frown Town, Smooth Town, and Cool Town over the past five years. Most of the trends were addressed with supporting details, but not all of them.

Thoroughly discusses the crime trends comparing Happy Town, Frown Town, Smooth Town, and Cool Town over the past five years. All the major trends were addressed and well-supported.

4. Clarity, writing mechanics, and formatting requirements. Weight: 25%

More than 6 errors present.

5-6 errors present. 3-4 errors present. 0-2 errors present.

CRJ 105 – Crime and Criminal Behavior

Document Library

HAPPY TOWN POLICE DEPARTMENT CRIME STATISTICS

2010 – 2015

Year Population1

Murder and nonnegligent manslaughter

Forcible rape Robbery

Aggravated assault Burglary

Larceny- theft

Motor vehicle theft

2015 125,336 7 12 56 86 18 214 21

2014 132,426 7 12 53 83 19 205 22

2013 140,326 6 8 49 82 17 198 18

2012 161,331 5 4 50 80 18 201 20

2011 173,111 4 3 48 75 14 161 21

2010 168,010 0 2 36 72 10 162 17

CRJ 105 – Crime and Criminal Behavior

FROWN TOWN POLICE DEPARTMENT CRIME STATISTICS

2010 – 2015

Year Population1

Murder and nonnegligent manslaughter

Forcible rape Robbery

Aggravated assault Burglary

Larceny- theft

Motor vehicle theft

2015 111,002 0 2 26 53 14 126 18

2014 110,830 0 2 34 65 15 143 22

2013 110,750 2 1 26 61 17 141 18

2012 110,350 2 2 23 57 18 142 20

2011 110,111 0 1 19 55 14 139 21

2010 108,350 0 2 8 53 10 140 17

CRJ 105 – Crime and Criminal Behavior

SMOOTH TOWN POLICE DEPARTMENT CRIME STATISTICS

2010 – 2015

Year Population1

Murder and nonnegligent manslaughter

Forcible rape Robbery

Aggravated assault Burglary

Larceny- theft

Motor vehicle theft

2015 156,336 5 5 10 80 18 161 18

2014 148,426 4 4 8 75 19 167 17

2013 147,326 3 4 7 78 17 163 18

2012 145,331 5 3 9 77 18 162 20

2011 145,111 4 3 7 75 14 161 21

2010 120,010 0 5 8 78 10 162 17

CRJ 105 – Crime and Criminal Behavior

COOL TOWN POLICE DEPARTMENT

CRIME STATISTICS 2010 – 2015

Year Population1

Murder and nonnegligent manslaughter

Forcible rape Robbery

Aggravated assault Burglary

Larceny- theft

Motor vehicle theft

2015 175,336 0 2 26 53 14 126 18

2014 165,486 0 2 34 65 15 143 22

2013 154,126 2 1 26 61 17 141 18

2012 143,231 2 2 23 57 18 142 20

2011 133,119 0 1 19 55 14 139 21

2010 128,010 0 2 8 53 10 140 17

CRJ 105 – Crime and Criminal Behavior

Happy Town Tribune Monday, March 12, 2016 Blackboard support 1-877-642-2999

Major crimes in Happy Town go up in 2015

By Tamara Fearless, Special to the Happy Town Tribune March 5, 2016

Happy Town, GA. — Happy Town had a five percent increase in major crimes reported in 2015, due to an increase in thefts, according to recently released statistics. In crimes categorized as Part 1 offenses – such as murder, criminal sexual assault, aggravated assault and battery, burglary, theft and arson – theft and arson were the only categories that increased. There were 214 thefts reported in 2015, compared with 167 the year before. One arson was reported in 2014. “Crime goes in cycles”, Police Chief Rodney Hurt stated at yesterday’s news conference.

Uniform Crime Reporting By Tamara Fearless, Special to the Happy Town Tribune

March 5, 2016

The Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program has been the

starting place for law enforcement executives, students of

criminal justice, researchers, members of the media, and

the public at large seeking information on crime in the

nation. The program was conceived in 1929 by the

International Association of Chiefs of Police to meet the

need for reliable uniform crime statistics for the nation. In

1930, the FBI was tasked with collecting, publishing, and

archiving those statistics.

Today, four annual publications, Crime in the United States,

National Incident-Based Reporting System, Law

Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted, and Hate Crime

Statistics are produced from data received from over

18,000 city, university/college, county, state, tribal, and

federal law enforcement agencies voluntarily participating

in the program. The crime data are submitted either

through a state UCR Program or directly to the FBI’s UCR

Program.

In addition to these reports, information is available on the

Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted (LEOKA)

Program and the Hate Crime Statistics Program, as well as

the traditional Summary Reporting System (SRS) and the

National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS).

https://ucr.fbi.gov/

Shoplifting a Problem at the Socks for Feet

By Tamara Fearless, Special to the Happy Town Tribune March 5, 2016

Happy Town, GA. — Three people were arrested Friday after police say a shoplifting incident led officers to drugs and a stolen gun. Happy Town Police say two men stole three dozen pairs of socks from Socks for Feet and were stopped in the parking lot. A third suspect was found in a vehicle outside the store.

According to a release, investigators found a substantial amount of crack cocaine and marijuana in the suspects’ possession.

Officials later searched a vehicle and hotel room connected with the suspects and found a stolen handgun and more marijuana, according to a release. They also found an unregistered handgun during the search.

The suspects were arrested on charges of theft of property, possession with intent to deliver cocaine, possession with intent to deliver marijuana, felon in possession of a firearm and felony firearms. They will be identified pending formal arraignment.

Police Chiefs Son Arrested Again

Happy Town, GA. — The son of Happy Town’s Police Chief has found himself on the wrong side of the law again after being charged with multiple charges on Tuesday. Online arrest records show 24-year-old Bubba Hurt, the son of Chief Rodney Hurt, was arrested at the Socks for Feet. It is his second arrest in less than a year. Last July, Hurt turned himself into authorities after he was accused of leaving a bar without paying his tab. Police said the charges stemmed from a dispute over a bill at the Ugly Monkey Party bar on West Prison Street.

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