By CONRAD P. RUTKOWSKI
Serving previously as the project coordinator of the National Program for the Development of Strategies for the Prevention of Juvenile Delinquency, Dr. Rutkowski is currently associate professor of political science and program associate of the Center for the Comparative Study of Mid-Sized Cities, Sangamon State University.
Crime in Illinois:A look at state law enforcement agencies and how they measure crime
JUST WHAT do we know about the nature of crime and law enforcement in the state of Illinois and the U.S. generally? What do law enforcement officers actually do? What do we know about crime and the ways in which it is measured and assessed? How much money is spent dealing with crime? And finally, how can some of the real problems and issues within this field be identified and dealt with?
Law enforcement agencies and personnel
To begin with it is important to note that police activity within Illinois as well as elsewhere is largely administered on the local level. Police engage in activity within jurisdictional units. And these spheres of authority are not always compatible with one another. At the highest level, the Illinois State Police operates throughout the state within 16 traffic control districts. In all, their sworn contingent of officers just exceeds 1,700. While they are concerned with criminal activity, their primary role relates to the regulation of traffic on state highways.
A less visible law enforcement agency operating on the state level is the Illinois Bureau of Investigation. At its inception it was mandated to gather intelligence on organized crime; enforce narcotics laws; and work with local law enforcement agencies. In addition, the Bureau with its contingent of 168 agents has also taken on the responsibility of insuring the security of the state's racing industry as well as uncovering political corruption within the state's executive branch.
For years the Crime Index has been the measure for assessing crime. A new the victimization survey that actual crime rates are two for three times higher than indicated
A third state agency which has law enforcement responsibilities is the Illinois Bureau of Identification which provides assistance of a technical nature to state and local law enforcement agencies. All three agencies mentioned above are elements of the Illinois Department of Law Enforcement. The secretary of state in Illinois, an
elected official, supervises over 200 investigators in the area of automobile titles, registrations, and the licensing of drivers.
County municipal levels
Below the state level, there are 102 county police departments, each of which is organized under an elected sheriff. Currently, all of these departments taken together rely upon a force of 1,900 officers.
There are approximately 870 distinct police departments operating at the municipal level which embrace a total of approximately 21.500 officers. About 65 per cent of these, or almost 14,000 officers, are members of the Chicago Police Department.
In 1973 the Illinois Law Enforcement Commission conducted an extensive survey to ascertain how local police within the state spent their time. Only about a quarter of their time was reported as being spent on crime prevention. The remainder of the officers' time was spent on traffic control (32 per cent), criminal investigations (14 per cent), domestic calls (11 per cent), ordinance enforcement (8 per cent), and other miscellaneous activities (8 per cent).
Despite these figures, police officers tend to define or perceive their major role as one of crime fighting. In significant contrast to this is the fact that the public tends to expect the police to serve as a kind of general overall service agency.
The ideal role of a law enforcement officer is that of an impartial agent of the state. Yet far too often the public sees police officers as allies in their personal attempts to secure redress of a real or imagined grievance. Egon Bittner, professor of sociology at Brandeis University, stated it well when he said, "Police work is, by its very nature, doomed to be often unjust and offensive to someone. Under the dual pressure to 'be right' and to 'do something,' policemen are often in a position that is compromised even before they act."
Uniform crime reporting system April 1975/Illinois Issues/115
In 1970 the Illinois General Assembly (Public Act 76-444) directed the Illinois Department of Law Enforcement to establish a uniform crime reporting system for this state. On January 1, 1972, just over three years ago, this program became operational. To a very large degree the Illinois system was patterned after the nation-wide Uniform Crime Reports System
which was first inaugurated throughout the nation in 1930 after an extended and intensive campaign by the International Association of Chiefs of Police. It is this system which is used by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in its annual compilation of crime statistics in the United States.
The primary yardstick by which crime is assessed within the state is the Crime Index. This statistical tool is based upon a compilation of reported crimes that are defined as serious because of their very nature, or because they occur with such frequency that they constitute a large proportion of all crimes that do occur.
General picture of crime
Another measure, called the Crime Rate, has been developed from the Crime Index itself. The Crime Rate is simply an expression of the Crime Index in terms of population. More precisely, it is the Crime Index per 100,000 population. Even though these measures are viewed as somewhat crude devices by a number of authorities, they do provide a general picture of crime in the United States. It is also argued that this system does allow for a degree of comparative analysis and assessment by treating population as a constant variable.
Due to a significant degree of dissatisfaction with the Uniform Crime Reports system, an alternative and somewhat revolutionary instrument has been introduced. Within and without the law enforcement field a controversy of sorts had been raging not only over the accuracy of the Uniform Crime Reporting System, but also over its relevance and usefulness. Detractors of the system charge that the system deals only with reported crimes and not with crime unknown to law enforcement agencies.
The new system, which relies heavily on scientific sampling methods, attempts to determine how many and how often individuals and institutions have been the victims of crimes. Victimization survey is the term generally used to describe this new method. Thus far the results of these surveys suggest actual crime rates at least two to three times greater than those indicated by the Uniform Crime Reports. If the victimization surveys are more accurate in recording the incidence of serious crime, then the pressing question is why citizens do not call law enforcement agencies when they are a victim of a crime.
In 1972 the estimated population of Illinois was approximately 11.25 million. The Crime Index was 279,455. The Crime Rate was 2,483.8 per 100,000 population. The Crime Index consists of the crimes of murder, forcible rape, burglary, auto theft, robbery, aggravated assault, and larceny in the amount of $50 and over (see accompanying chart).
From 1959 through 1972 the population of Illinois increased by 12.4 per cent. During the same period the Crime Index rose 124 per cent, and the Crime Rate was up almost 100 per cent. Nationally, the Crime Rate rose 200 per cent during these years.
Fear of crime
Does all of this mean that crime is increasing rapidly in Illinois and even faster in the nation as a whole? There is no easy or generally accepted answer to this question. Statistics prove many things, and those who rely upon them argue that they substantiate an increase. Other authorities in the field argue that levels of crime remain relatively constant, given relative social, economic, and political stability. The one certain fact is that public fear of crime is demonstrably on the increase. Perhaps the ynost important element contributing to this anxiety is the fact that criminals are becoming more indiscriminate in their choice of victims. In terms of a well-worn cliche, crime is no longer confined to the ghetto, if in fact it ever was.
A number of years ago during the Lyndon Johnson administration a congressman from New York was reported to have said, "Money is where poverty is." Today, it would not be inaccurate to say this. In 1973, in Illinois the law-enforcement sector of the criminal justice process was allocated about S433 million, while the courts received only about 10 per cent of that amount (S44 million). Correctional agencies were budgeted at $108 million.
Public expenditures
In 1968 the President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice published figures indicating public expenditures in the United States for the prevention and control of crime. In all, $2,792 million was spent on police services. The federal share of this was only 9 per cent (S243 million); the state government portion was only slightly more at 12 per cent ($348 million); and the local government portion was a staggering 79 per cent ($2,201). The figures provided by the Commission were for the year ending June 30, 1965. In August'1971 the U.S. Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations announced that $6.5 billion was spent by state and local governments on criminal justice within the United States. The Commission pointed out that this figure represented about 5 per cent of state-local expenditures for all purposes.
The President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice also concluded in its report on crime in the United States that the
116/Illinois Issues/April 1975
Just what are some of the things that we do know about the nature of crime here in Illinois and in the United States? To begin with, crime is no longer just an urban problem; it has shifted to the suburbs. In addition, crime is now definitely identified with young people. The Illinois Law Enforcement Commission reported in 1974 that "there are an estimated 1,500,000 youths, aged 10-17, in the state, approximately 10 per cent of whom are known offenders or who are in danger of becoming involved with law enforcement agencies." This specific age group is to be found primarily in the suburbs. The Commission also reported that "the second-highest crime potential group, young adults aged 18-24, is also found in the greatest numbers in the suburbs."
Crime prevention
As noted earlier, an enormous amount of crime in the United States simply goes unreported. The "whys" and "wherefores" of this are still largely ""known. Is apathy one of the causes? "'en if it is, it must be pointed out that law enforcement agencies are for the most part reactive in nature, in that they normally attempt to deal with crime after the fact. The very reason for their existence, whether by design or not, is the segregation of criminals from society. Accordingly, little effort is expended genuine and effective crime prevention.
ThePreceding is not intended as a slap at our law enforcement agencies and their staffs. At present, little is known about the nature and relative effectiveness of the various crime prevention strategies. A number of preliminary studies at least imply that much of what is being done is ineffective, or more significantly, is simply irrelevant. To a major degree, current crime prevention strategies and tactics are based upon untested assumptions.
Women and crime
It is also significant that female involvement in crime is on the upswing. Statistics provided by the F.B.I, indicate that today about one out of every 10 "serious crimes" is perpetrated by a woman. In terms of arrest rates, one out of every six involves a woman. Over the last five years, in a number of major crime categories—murder, auto theft, and armed robbery—the number of women arrested has increased 52 per cent while the increase among men was only 8 per cent. Drunken driving arrests for women were up 211 per cent, and for drug or drug-related offenses the rise was an astounding 1,032 per cent. Again, the "whys" of all of this are speculative and have been hotly debated.
What can be done, if anything, about all of this? Better data might help, but as yet we simply do not know what is the most precise method of measuring crime and its impact.
Currently, the great bulk of our monies are invested in after-the-fact "problem-solving" and/or "problem-eliminating" ventures, rather than in crime prevention. In an analogous sense this has meant that we have concentrated on corrective surgery rather than preventative medicine.- Any major orientation of funding priorities will probably be based on the assumption that a significant proportion of crime can be prevented.ť
*CRIME IN ILLINOIS -1972 (Springfield: Crime Studies Section, Bureau of Identification, Department of Law Enforcement, 1972), p. 13
April 1975/Illinois Issues/117