There is a large variety of law enforcement agencies in the United States which cover all spheres of life of a modern society addressing existing and possible dangers in order to provide security on multiple levels and organize an upstream approach towards the prevention of various criminal threats. This paper explores several control strategies delivered by various law enforcement agencies of the United States as discussed in different journals and studies. Among the law enforcement agencies mentioned in this paper, there are the Food and Drug Administration which answers to the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the Drug Enforcement Administration that underlies the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Department of Crime Control.
One of the spheres of control strategies for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is product quality control. Doctor Deborah Baby notes that one of the most important strategies for quality management is product complaints control (2). This strategy allows providing an upstream approach to quality control and identifying and addressing the product weaknesses failures at early stages. Baly argues that product quality is “built-in” and mentions that proactive control measures are necessary at all stages of the manufacturing process. Overall, the minimization of risks to consumers is facilitated through the careful monitoring of product data, risk assessment, constant improvement and focus on innovation.
Crime Control Department implements a variety of strategies directed at the reduction of criminal activity. One such crime control model is discussed in the article by McElvain, Kposowa, and Gray who explore the shortfalls of community-oriented policing most of which came from the officers’ inability or unwillingness to change their approach to work or understand the new requirements (4). Currently, there is a doubt about the police’s ability to control crime in general due to the large varieties of social forces responsible for the rates of criminal activity which in most cases cannot be influenced by the police. As a result, such control strategies as hotspot policing and order maintenance fail to evoke public satisfaction with the police authorities and their ability to minimize crime, show fair treatment of all communities, and reduce the power abuse among the officers (Gill, Weisburd, Telep, Vitter and Bennet 1). The new crime control model that proved to be effective is based on such principles as timely intelligence, clear objectives, effective tactics, rapid deployment of resources, and thorough follow-up (McElvain et al. 5).
Drug control is another area of law enforcement that is undergoing a lot of changes. The United States’ war on drugs has been going on for over a century now, and the policies implemented in order to restrict the practices of drug abuse and trafficking did not show positive results significant enough to consider the strategies applied previously successful (Csete, Parker and Worthington 2). As a result, the debates concerning the policies and strategies of drug control never stop, yet both sides agree on one aspect – the United States’ practices of drug control impact the control strategies all over the world (Csete et al. 3). President Bush implemented very strict and repressive control of illicit drugs and facilitated the eradication effort of coca fields in the Andes via aerial fumigation which was later linked to several health issues among the local population (Csete et al. 5). The next drug control program funded by the US was Merida Initiative directed at drug control in Central America, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic which lasted for 3 years and worked through strengthening security forces in the area. The strategy was criticized since its development did not involve consults with national legislatures of the included countries and the focus on military institutions. The Obama Administration admitted the failure of the war on the drug in previous years and expressed a new approach to this issue focused on harm reduction, for example, crop eradication was named as a wrong strategy. One of the more recent drug control strategies included efforts to legalize recreational marijuana in some states.
Finally, another serious security issue of the contemporary society of the United States is firearm violence. The debates concerning gun control have been going on for years now. Firearm violence in the United States grew during the 1990s and caused a variety of policies directed at the reduction of gun crimes. Makarios and Pratt discussed the strategies for gun violence intervention using meta-analysis and found that little is known about their efficiency, regardless of their extreme cost (223). Control strategies for firearm violence include counseling about the dangers of gun ownership, proper ways of storage or firearms, yet the researchers revealed that this approach does not help to reduce the use and ownership of guns (Makarios and Pratt 224). Law enforcement addressed the issue of increasing the punishment for crimes related to firearms and the restriction of the citizens’ ability to buy firearms. Besides, some of the kinds of weapons are banned from sale. Moreover, firearms control obliges the owners of guns to keep them unloaded and locked away from the access of children. The latter policy has not been very effective since according to a CDC report, guns have increasingly become one of the top causes of death among children, adolescents, and young adults (1).
In conclusion, the development of efficient control strategies is conducted empirically using analysis of previous tendencies and policies and correction of errors. Constant data collection and timely intelligence are the most important keys to innovation and an upstream approach towards various areas of crime.
Works Cited
Baly, Deborah. “Product Quality Management.” Pharmaceutical Quality System Conference (2011): 1-11. Print.
CDC. “Homicide Rates Among Persons Aged 10–24 Years.” Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 62.27 (2013): 1-13. Print.
Csete, Joanne, Richard Parker and Nancy Worthington. “Rethinking the War on Drugs: The Impact of US Drug Control Policy on Global Public Health.” Law and Policy Project (2010): 1-21. Print.
Gill, Charlotte, David Weisburd, Cody Telep, Zoe Vitter, Trevor Bennet. “Community-Oriented Policing to Reduce Crime, Disorder and Fear and Increase Satisfaction and Legitimacy among Citizens: A Systematic Review.” Journal of Experimental Criminology (2014). Print
Makarios, Matthew and Travis C. Pratt. “The Effectiveness of Policies and Programs That Attempt to Reduce Firearm Violence: A Meta-Analysis.” Crime & Delinquency 58.2 (2012): 222-244. Print.
McElvain, James, Augustine J. Kposowa, and Brian C. Gray. “Testing a Crime Control Model: Does Strategic and Directed Deployment of Police Officers Lead to Lower Crime?” Journal of Criminology 2013 (2013): 1-11. Print.