In module 3 you read Crime Prevention Research Review: Police Enforcement

Strategies to Prevent Crime in Hot Spot Areas. In addition, the module 3 discussion
board asked you to apply one step of Bardach and Patashniks Eightfold Path to the
policy decision to implement hot spot policing or not within your agency.

Now describe and discuss how one of the environmental factors from presentation 5.1
applies to the step you chose from module 3. How does mission, environment,
evaluation criteria, partnerships, culture and communication, or politics shape your
response in module 3?

Eightfold Path and projecting the outcomes

In module 3, I chose projecting the outcomes from the Eightfold Path. I chose shot spotter as a
form of Hot Spot policing. When choosing a form of Hot Spot policing, agencies can get an idea
of how to identify the strengths and weaknesses of implementing new forms of Hot Spot
policing. During this step, agencies must be flexible and mindful of their form of policing.
Adjustments can be made during this step and done so through trial and error. If my agency had
much more funding, I believe crime rates can be pushed to much lower measures.

In the module 5 presentation, we connected our step and correlated it with how the mission,
environment, evaluation criteria, partnerships, culture, and communications shaped my response.
I started to think about the environment that law enforcement officers face in the City of San
Francisco. The city itself is known for its liberal culture. Everyone in the city are more open to
different types of backgrounds, cultures, and a wider acceptance of different cultural norms, etc.
According to Professor Fritsvold (2016), the first is support and/or opposition for the mission of
your institution. San Francisco is a very liberal city and has been feeling the effects of a majority
opposition. The police chief of San Francisco resigned a few months ago due to police shootings.
The Police chief himself was not to blame, but being the leader of the organization caused him to
be the main person to blame. Even to this day, anti-police organizations in the city have built
their own opinions about law enforcement and do not necessarily rely on factual evidence to
oppose law enforcement. They just chose to defy authority. Facing opposition from groups as
such makes it difficult for law enforcement agencies to carry out different programs they run
such as Hot Spot policing. A program, such as shot spotter, may not receive much funding as a
program that the Sheriffs Department runs which assists inmates in receiving their college
degree.

Another major factor in my agencys ability to carry out its mission is the issue of a high
turnover rate. The Sheriffs Department is expanding its function outside of jails, courts,
specialized units, and its small patrol function. More and more contracts are sought after by
different city agencies to make use of the services from the Sheriffs Department. The demand
for units to patrol these contracts are in large volumes. The Sheriffs Department needed to
project the outcome of offering their services. For every 20 sworn members that retires, the
department only receives 8-10 new deputies, if that. The Sheriffs Department is in competition
with the city Police Department for one contract involving the citys major transportation hub.
The Sheriffs Department easily won the bid and now needs to hire more sworn staff to provide
their services. My issue with this is, if the department ends up taking over one hundred percent
of the contract, the unit with this contract will be extremely understaffed. This causes less units
on patrol and more crime undetected.

Fritsvold, E (2016). Presentation 5.1: Public Policy Analysis for Public & Non-Profit
Institutions. Retrieved from
https://ole.sandiego.edu/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_46058_1&cont
ent_id=_856258_1