The city council of Smithville has instituted changes to police procedures to improve the visibility of the police force. These changes require that the town hire more police officers, budget more funds for police overtime, and direct officers to patrol s

The city council of Smithville wants to increase the visibility of the police force in order to reduce crime rate. In order to achieve this goal, the city will hire more police officers, increase funding for police overtime, and direct officers to patrol on foot rather than from their patrol cars. Without any statistics on the city crime rate, it is difficult to predict if the new changes will be effective or a fail.

First, the city wants to hire on more police officers to patrol the city. This will increase budget funds. Second, the city wants to increase budget funds for police overtime. So, the city will be allocating a lot of tax-payers money to feed the police force. If changes take effect, not only will the city budget increase, but the citizens of Smithville will also likely to be facing with hire taxes. However, this is all in exchange for their safety and security.

Third, the city wants the officers to patrol significantly more on foot rather then from the patrol cars. The author did not give a specific reason why for the need of officers on foot gather than car, so we can only assume that there may have been an increase in petty and juvenile crimes such as theft, gang activities, or loitering. Or if Smithville is a densely populated city like New York City, where cars are more of a hinderance than an advantage, having officers patrol on foot is more efficient.

With all these considerations taken into place, we still do not the the dymanic of the crime scene in Smithville. The assumptions that by increasing the office force, having officers work more overtime, and having the them patrol on foot more will lower the crime rate are mere speculations. Are the citizens complaining about their safety? Do they prefer the city to use more money to hire more officers or would they gather have better trained officers and be able to report to the scene of the crime in a timely fashion? If officers are to respond quickly to crimes, a car would be the fastest ways for them to get from point A to point B, rather than on foot; this would occur for a example in a car chase.

Improving on the visibility of officers may not necessarily reduce crime rate, as criminals can always find ways to work around obstacles; and it can cost the city an exorbitant amount of money to keep the officers visible at all times. However, if the officers are better trained to respond to crimal activities, and are on patrol more at crime infested areas of the city, decrease in crime rate may be proven to be more effective. So, before the city council of Smithville makes a hasty decision to increase the police more, budget, and on foot patrol; they may want to consider a training program, to provide their existing officers with better equip skills to protect the citizens.