Crime strategy
According to the statistics provided by the federal bureau of investigation, the rates of crimes has surged higher than the previous years. It could be due to the advancement of technology whereby the criminals cannot be easily traced. The ability of a nation to successfully carb a particular criminal act depends largely on the instrumentalities that are employed to ensure that the acts are properly handled. It can be achieved through reinforcing laws guarding punishment to various crime whereby anyone with the desire to commit a particular crime will be discouraged by the consequences. The government can also reinforce the security departments or form new departments to handle various crimes to ensure it is eliminated, or the rate is minimized. This paper is going to look at means by which the government can handle different scales of crime both the difficult and easy crime.
Computer related crimes
Computer related crimes often referred to as cybercrime has been lately the most difficult crime for every country including the United States. These crimes are classified into two general categories as those that target the computer networks or devices and the ones that use a computer network to target individuals (Brown, Gunderson, & Evans, 2008). The types of computer crimes are as follows, using a computer for fraud like identity theft, placing malware or virus on a computer system, hacking a computer system or network. These are some of the major cyber-attacks that are prevalent in the society today. Through these attacks, the country makes huge losses and hence crippling the economy. An example of a company that has faced a serious cyber-attack is the Wells Fargo company in December 2012 which experienced a denial of service from their website that left over 70 million customers compromised.
A survey sponsored by McAfee Company produced a report indicating the annual damage to the global economy due to these crimes is close to $445 billion (Karen, 2010). These estimates may not be similar to other agencies that have conducted research on the same for example Microsoft Company produced a report showing that the true losses incurred due to cyber-crime could be estimated by orders of magnitude. Advanced persistent threats (APT) is another type of cybercrime that has seen a rising trend with only three attacks identified in 2010 and has risen to 53 attacks in 2014 (Brewer, 2011). The rising trends show that a lot need to be done to curb the adverse effects of this criminal activity, and the proposed measures are presented here.
The government institutions such as federal bureau of investigation (FBI) that already exist will form a crucial part of solving the cyber security threats. Being a body that has handled similar cases before they have vast experience related to such crimes. There will be a task force formed within the agency with the core purpose is to carry out thorough investigations to unearth the criminals behind most of the reported cases. The team selected will also get frequent training on how to detect and prevent the crimes in good time before it leads to adverse effects. In the laws of the country, stringent penalties should be included to instill fear into the prospective criminals and all that are caught practicing this crime. All companies using internet and computers must also employ qualified professionals that can help minimize how much the companies is exposed to these crimes. A regulatory body that will be concerned d with the standards of computer technology in the country will also get formed to ensure that the standard of computer usage in the country are held higher.
Drug trafficking crime.
The crime of drug trafficking could be the easiest to solve in a country such as the United States. Drug trafficking involves the selling, transportation or importing of illegal control substances. There is no state that allows drug trafficking due to the adverse effects it has especially to the health of the abusers. Alongside the health deterioration, it also leads to an increase in criminal cases by most abusers who cannot make an appropriate judgment while on these drugs. Both the federal and the state laws are stringent against drug trafficking but in some cases there exists a contradiction between these laws. Drug trafficking can be an easy crime to curb but in some instances those who are supposed to reinforce the laws against the activity become the culprits hence jeopardizing the whole process.
The Organization of American States estimated that the revenue from cocaine sales in the United States in 2013 was $34 billion while the Office of National Drug Control Policy estimated that in the same year the worth of drugs was about $100 billion (Harrison, 2012). Some other statistics from the Drug Enforcement Agency shows that they make close to 30,000 arrests each year that is related to the sales and distribution of illegal narcotics. The popular drugs that get smuggled in the country are cocaine, heroin, and marijuana. In 2008 alone Drug Enforcement Agency seized these drug in the amounts of cocaine 49,823 kg, Heroin 598 kg, Marijuana 660,969kg (Harrison, 2012).
Stemming the prevalence of the drugs in the society need a proper plan without any loophole because a slight opportunity given would threaten the success of the whole process. The first step that would be taken is to install Rehabilitation Centers within each division, with the purpose of helping those who have been addicted to these substances. Drug Enforcement agency centers will also be stationed in all divisions whereby in the case of a tip from the public the officers can get to the root of the matter and arrest the traffickers. Reinforcing laws on substance abuse will be paramount, in that anyone arrested in possession of the substances must face proper disciplinary measure that will discourage those intending to get involved in this criminal act.
The drug abuse crime and the cyber-crimes are both criminal activities that can be dealt with appropriately. Handling of the cybercrime could be a challenge due to the ever changing technology and advancement in computer usage. Therefore, it requires a high cooperation from the companies or organizations that use this technology to help completely curb the crime. In a similar manner, drug trafficking requires cooperation from all quarters of the society including those in charge of reinforcing the laws to succeed in completely doing away with it. Being a multimillion business for some people but at the same time a danger to others and the country as a whole.
References
Brewer, R. (2011). Advanced persistent threats: minimising the damage. Network Security, 5-9.
Brown, D., Gunderson, L., & Evans, M. (2008). Interactive analysis of computer crimes. Computer, 69-77.
Harrison, L. (2012). Drug use in the high intensity drug trafficking area of the US Southwest border. Addiction, 47-62.
Karen, L. (2010). McAfee uncovers massive cyber-espionage hacks. Computer Fraud & Security, 3.
Related: Utilization of Statistical Data in Criminal Justice Policy Making
