What is the status of my reported crime matter? Who is investigating it? What is the next step? These are commonly asked questions by victims of crime.
The vast majority of citizens are law-abiding. The minority are the seriously criminally-inclined. This majority honestly want to improve things as it pertains to anti-crime matters. Many citizens are enquiring as to some very basic, yet quite important matters pertaining to policing to which the police have the ability to shine.
In any given month, thousands of reports of all types of crimes are made collectively to all of the police stations and police posts across T&T. Citizens ought to get receipts for such reports; a definite step in the right direction, though it should be done more consistently.
Citizens are searching to know the steps that ought to follow after a report of a crime was made to a police station. They questioned: are there different steps that will follow for different types of crime reported? For example, when a murder occurs, we know that the police arrive on the scene, statements and evidence are collected, the CSI team comes on board, the matter is passed to Homicide Bureau etc. But what happens when a citizen reports a burglary, breaking or larceny or is a victim of a fight on the street? We know that there isn’t always a crime scene visit.
The public generally knows that when a crime is reported an investigation ought to take place after. We do not know whether it is the officer who took the report at the police station or some other constable, corporal, sergeant, inspector or whoever initiates or authorises an investigation into the report. These steps are what the public is eager to get an answer to.
Another fundamental issue is: do all reports of crimes get investigated? In principle, they should, but we need to work together to change the reality. It may depend a lot on availability of resources, but we need to know what the prioritisation policy, for transparency sake, is.
We will also like to know whom a citizen may follow up with to get updates on reported matters. Do we contact the front desk officer, the investigator or someone else? Further, what if we have additional information to share on the report, whom do we take it to?
It has been repeatedly asked: can someone other than the investigator or the person to whom the report was made provide any updates to citizens? Can there be a client relations person (who can be a civilian) providing updates eg, yes, the matter is close to being finalised; it is not proceeding well as no further evidence was found, etc?
Further, not all matters are forwarded to CID for investigation. How are they screened at the police station and by whom? If a crime report is not serious enough to be sent to the CID, or other specialist units like Homicide, Anti-Kidnapping, Fraud Squad etc, who investigates these matters still?
The public want some general timeframes when they can expect some feedback after making a report. While this cannot be cast in stone, at least some general timeframe can be provided. Can a system similar in principle to the case management system in the judiciary be used where all reports can be tracked?
Further, can a computerised system be used where a citizen can log in with the crime report number to view updates posted? Banks and telephone service providers, for example, update their clients’ accounts every few hours or overnight. What will be a reasonable timeframe for updates on reports of crimes? Are weekly, fortnightly and monthly updates for various types of crimes fair?
This is the direction that we should be thinking about. We can start doing it on a phased basis. It will certainly go a long way in building customer service, trust and confidence in the police—which we all want.
The police service can consider implementing various types of public education campaigns that can be shared on national television, throughout communities, in the other media, and importantly, on all levels of the education system, from nursery to tertiary as they say.
There is no better way to reach people than to let children tell their parents, guardians and other relatives what they have learnt in school. Here, flowcharts, diagrams, maps, graphics and colours should be used to make it attractive and easy to follow.
Today, we also have immensely powerful social media tools to reach hundreds of thousands of people from all ages and sectors—to spread this information—which is very economical. Further, the police service can create special apps to make this line of anti-crime operations quite easy to access!
By everyone knowing what the system is, it will create a fairer system. We wouldn’t have to rely on knowing a police officer friend to help us. It will also have a data-based approached to dealing with crime. At the end of the day, law abiding citizens want criminals to be dealt with swiftly and fairly.
Contact the CISPS for its full range of courses on law enforcement, corporate security, investigations, human resources, OSH/HSE, etc. Tel: 223-6999, 299-8635, info@caribbeansecurityinstitute.com, or www.caribbeansecurityinstitute.com
