A Practical Application of Organizational Planning

A Practical Application of Organizational Planning

University of Central Florida

Table 1

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The Logic Model provided in Table 1 was developed in order to evaluate and propose a research-based solution in response to an increase in violent crime in the city in the first part of 2014. The violent crime division of our police force has reviewed numerous evidence-based programs and practices (EBP) in addition to scholarly articles to determine which, if any, previously implemented solutions could affect real change in our city and reduce the violent crime rate. During our review, one specific EBP showed to be relevant to the problems and needs of our city and appeared to be the best fit to achieve our goal of reducing violent crime rates. In addition to selecting the best EBP fit, we have found a potential funding source to help cover the expenses the program will require in order to be a success. Once the program based on our selected EBP is in place we will implement a monitoring plan in order to continuously review the processes and personnel involved. These reviews will assist us in determining if any adjustments need to be made to the program with the goal of maintaining program reliability and effectiveness. Our goals are to perform a detailed review of the EBP, tailor it to the specific issues and needs of our city prior to implementation, garner the necessary state, local, and community resources required to support the effort, use a multi-agency approach to implement the protocol and then measure the outcomes over the short, medium, and long term to evaluate its effectiveness and success. If we are able to effectively complete the aforementioned goals, we have a high probability of reducing the violent crime rate in our city to below that of similar-sized cities in our country.

In an effort to determine the different EBP’s available, and their effectiveness to date, our team reviewed the resources available on the National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs website http://www.Crimesolutions.gov.  After a thorough review of the available information, we determined that to best meet our city’s needs, and to provide ourselves with the highest chance of a successful program, we would pursue a program based on an EBP called Operation Ceasefire. Operation Ceasefire has been rated as effective by the National Institute of Justice and was developed as a deterrence strategy aimed “to prevent gang violence by making gang members believe that severe consequences would follow from violence and gun use, which would persuade them to change their behavior” (“Operation Ceasefire,” 2011).

Operation Ceasefire began in 1996 and concluded in 2000. During this four (4) year span, the program was attributed with a 63% reduction in the average number of monthly youth homicides, a 25% decrease in the number of citywide gun assaults, and a 32% decrease in the number of monthly calls to police due to shots-fired complaints (“Operation Ceasefire,” 2011). In a peer-reviewed study on the effectiveness of Operation Ceasefire, Braga, Kennedy, Waring and Piehl (2001) stated:

The principal intervention, Operation Ceasefire, was likely responsible for a substantial reduction in youth homicide and youth gun violence in the city. At first blush, the effectiveness of the Operation Ceasefire intervention in preventing violence may seem unique to Boston. Operation Ceasefire was constructed largely from the assets and capacities available in Boston at the time and deliberately tailored to the city’s particular violence problem. Operational capacities of criminal justice agencies in other cities will be different, and youth violence problems in other cities will have important distinguishing characteristics. However, we believe that the working-group problem-solving process and the pulling-levers approach to deterring chronic offenders are transferable to other jurisdictions. (p. 220)