Chapter 1

THE PROBLEM AND ITS SETTING

Background of the Study

A major problem with crime prevention schemes was that of how to evaluate their

effect. Many attempts at physical prevention were sociologically naïve. For example

grouping apartments into little courtyards in order to maximize nature surveillance

resulted in creating a maze of little alleyways that could be hiding places for robbers.

Taking down the walkways between high rise apartment blocks reduced burglary only

for a time and meanwhile making it harder to get in and out of such areas would, some

argued, increase levels of domestic violence as people were locked in their flats with

their problems. Crime prevention seemed, according to critics, obsessed with household

burglary and with the assumption that the most significant offender was from outside the

home (Lea, 2017)

The government is faced with various formidable social problems and concerns.

One of these problems is criminality, which affects all parts of the country and every

aspect of community life. It is imperative to recognize criminality as a complex matter.

Its causations are numerous and its trends are difficult to ascertain. It proliferates with

the acceleration of change and development and is magnified when this process is

accompanied with the negative impact of population growth, unemployment and rapid

urbanization. The problem of criminality is aggravated by the popular perception that

crime is a very narrow sphere of behavior. In reality, there is no single formula and

theory that can explain the vast range of criminal behavior. A criminal could be a
shoplifter stealing goods from a grocery store, a pleasant young man who suddenly and

inexplicably murders his family or a gun-for-hire who brutally assassinates a

government official.Internally generated conditions attendant to a developing nation with

a heterogeneous and expanding population have been cited as the primary contributors

to crime trends. The crime problem is further magnified by the negative impact of

unemployment and related difficulties, the weakening of the traditional social control

processes as well as the constant change in moral standards, the alienation from family

and social groups and the rising affluence enjoyed by some sectors of society. Other

contributory factors are the level of efficiency of the crime reporting system and the

willingness of the public to report crimes (Cabanlit, 2018)

In the local setting, crime causes economic, health, well-being, psychological

effects on victims and society at large. Crime is a serious social problem that directly

reduces the quality of the life of individuals and the community. Besides, the police are

the most visible institution devoted in fighting crime twenty four hour a day and seven

days a week. In support of this idea, the primary function of police is concerned with

preventing crime and catching criminals. So the primary function of police is to prevent

and detect crime. However, the police without the lively involvement of the community

face difficulty in tackling crime. Thus to prevent crime successfully there must be

community partnership and involvement. This fact indicates the need of involving the

community, the local government and the police to work together to tackle crime (Lapat,

2017)