Purpose Of Qualitative Research In Law Enforcement

Looking at the city and the crime that has occurred in the city will take some practical research. Research serves a multitude of purposes and in law enforcement it is constantly used to evaluate and re-evaluate areas and situations. The purpose right now is to identify, by using research, where the city’s highest crime rates are so adequate personnel can be strategically assigned to those problem areas. In order to do this, the purposes of research need to be looked at and understood so the correct method of research can be used for this particular task. Four different purposes of research exist, and for some studies it may take more than one to explore the problem, but it is useful to examine them separately because each has different implications

Take for instance our current trend in vehicular burglaries; we can explore the different aspects of the problem by looking at where the burglaries are occurring, the types of vehicles that are being burglarized, or the time of day that the burglaries are occurring. Descriptive research is used to describe an observation. This purpose tends to be more accurate as they are often concerned with counting or documenting observations. They focus on developing a preliminary understanding about a new or unusual problem. (Maxfield & Babbie, 2008). One of the best ways to describe this purpose is to point out our report writing software. The department uses a program that crosses from dispatch to patrol. The program is filled with calls taken by dispatchers and responded to by an officers or officers. Both entities enter information; this information can be extracted to create a report that shows call volume, call locations, and types of calls. Explanatory research is the why of things. It, simply put, is the cause and effect of a particular scenario. Take for example, the recent protest that we had over at City Hall. The protest was conducted because citizens were tired of the city not tending to the potholes in the city streets and that the potholes

In short; in the exploratory research you explore something, in the descriptive research you are describing something, explanatory research shows cause and effect, and evaluative research evaluates a policy or program. Based on the information that has been provided, the best research purpose to use for this departments project on identifying the highest crime areas would have to be the descriptive research purpose. This would also be the most practical for this department. The department already has the statistics it needs all within our own system. It is just a matter of gathering the data and filtering it to include crimes, areas, and time frames. This will help guide us to the areas with the most problems. This information can then be disseminated throughout the department and even shown on police patrol zones for extra