UK Zero Tolerance Policing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

UK Zero Tolerance Policing - Essay Example This concept of Zero Tolerance was founded in the year 1994 from what was known as the "broken window theory of crime" which had the same objective of doing away with social ills just as the zero tolerance (Cox & Wade, 1998, p.22). Through the establishment of a Zero tolerance policy, everyone would be a subject to the set laws and regulation, and the idea that had been long used to treat socials problems as if they were criminal offense would be part of history. Before the full enactment of this concept, justice was being practiced unfairly and a crime would only be defined as so if committed by others (members of the society in a lowers class) but the other portion of the society in higher social classes walk free. "Dealing with only those crimes committed by the poor and omitting the white collar crimes has never, and will never achieve much in the fight against crime" (Robinson, 2002, p41-75). Such an idea is what shook the United Kingdom to the realization that led them to embrace modern methods of fighting against the vise [Zero Tolerance Policing]. The U.K administration reasoned that it was a lot more easy to prevent the escalation of crime in the society that to put a stop to it. This stand prompted t hem to adopt the zero tolerance strategy which provided for the fight of smaller crimes with an equal magnitude just like the other bigger crimes...since it is these small isolated crimes that if left unattended to will mutate or rather develop into the high profile crimes. The criminal statistics of England and Wales indicate that, in a period of fifty decades (1950-2000), recorded criminal cases rose from 500-5500. Further reports in (Newburn, 2003, p.3) show that there was a 23% decline in public confidence with the police from 1992-2000 (Newburn, 2003, p.3).This new direction that zero tolerance policing has taken must therefore factor in these two concerns and work towards improving the relationship. This research paper will look at how the government of UK has faired so far with its strategy of zero tolerance policing since its inception, and what the government has so far achieved. The paper will also go further to analyze the viability of the concept in fighting the high pro file criminal acts of the 21st Century. The Case of U.K on Zero Tolerance Policing The Zero Tolerance Policing in the United Kingdom is under the docket of CID, headed by a Director Superintendent. The concept has received a lot of political support but is quiet unpopular among some of the U.K police force. Some of the Police Departments who advocate for the program argue that it was this new concept that had resulted into the drastic fall of crime as evident lately in New York (Sherman, et al.1997, p.51). Because of such positive reports, it has become widespread in the major cities especially in New York and those of North America. In the United Kingdom, it is mainly used in Middlesbrough, Strathclyde, Hartpool and Landon. A report that was released in February 2009 (Summers et al. 2009.) showed that criminal activities has switched bases, currently, more and more youngsters are getting involved in crime than before. The report further revealed that more than 50,000 teens in the United Kin