The city of Smallville, Georgia is the county seat of Jones County and has a population of 150,000 people. The racial breakdown is about 45% white, 43% black and 12% Hispanic. The socio-economic breakdown is about 30% upper class, 40% middle class and 30% lower class. Smallville draws people from over 100 miles away, primarily because it has a popular minor league baseball team and large entertainment district. There are also two major interstates that intersect with the city.
A new mayor has been elected in smallville and has made campaign promises to clean up the corruption within the city, especially within the police department. Chief J. Hoover Edgar, who has been the police chief for 20 years decided to retire with the election of a new mayor. Most of the city council member return and there has been speculation that some of them have maintained corrupt and illegal relationships with high ranking members of the police department.
During the last five years the city police department has seen an unusually high increase in citizen complaints on officers and an increase in use of force incidents by officers. The department has lost three different civil rights and excessive force lawsuits in the last two years and has several pending. Neighborhood and business groups have been ignored by the police department which has led to poor relationships and a perception of favoritism and corruption.
The department has 350 sworn officers and 50 civilian employees. the department has not seen any pay raises in 8 years and morale has been extremely low, primarily because of the low pay. The better officers are leaving for higher paying police jobs elsewhere.
The city of Smallville has 4 precincts.
Northwest Precinct-: this area of the city contains the minor league baseball stadium, the main entertainment district and the intersection of the major interstates. A large regional airport is located in this precinct. Around 15% of the population lives in this precinct. Recent complaints have surfaced about officers working in the entertainment and bar district showing favoritism in exchange for ignoring law violations and “looking the other way”.
Northeast Precinct: This area of the city is predominately residential (30)% and wealthy. the area is generally suburban and there are two large shopping malls and many upscale restaurants.
Northeast Precinct: The are of the city has the largest population (45)% and is largely lower and lower-middle class. This area has six large housing projects and many dense areas of public housing over 65% of the city’s overall crime and 85% of the city’s violent crime occurs in this area. A large hospital is located in this area and a large percentage of patients are drug and alcohol users and abusers. This area of the city also has extremely high unemployment rate and has recently experienced an increase in the gang activity.
Southeast Precinct: This area of the city primarily consists of the downtown area, and has a large business and manufacturing district. There are several restaurants and bars and about 10% of the city’s population lives downtown.
The city police department has a detective division and a special operations (traffic) division that operates out of the headquarters building located downtown.
each precinct has 50 officers, 50 detectives, 50 special operations, communication and administrative division has 50 officers.
The administrative division consists of internal affairs, finance personnel, training, community relations, information systems, and public information some of these positions are sworn police officers.
The communication division consist of some sworn police officers and 20 civilian radio operators.
The mayor is concerned with several issues that have recently been raised. Federal, State and several local law enforcement agencies along with the county courts are troubled by the departments lack of cooperation and involvement.
Your Assignment:
You have just been appointed to be the new chief of police for the Smallville Police Department. The mayor has agreed to pay you quite handsomely and in return, you have agreed to address the many problems within the department and “turn things around”. The mayor can not give you anymore money, but has agreed to consider increasing your budget if you can show improvement within the department.
Your paper must be 5 typed pages double spaced.
Do you want your assignment written by the best essay experts? Order now, for an amazing discount.
