Critique of Analysis on Urban High School Disorder Reduction Project

This article critiques the Urban High School Disorder Reduction Project that aimed to reduce crime rates in Belmont High School. It discusses the application of the Routine Activity Theory to understand the cause of the problem and recommends adopting the program in Queensland. The article also highlights factors that might make the program less effective in suburban QLD context.

Running head: CRITIQUE OF ANALYSIS
Critique of Analysis
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1CRITIQUE OF ANALYSIS
The Belmont High School, in the city of Dayton, has been recorded to have the
highest number of incidents of violent crimes including unarmed robberies, assault and rape,
as per the analysis made by the Dayton Daily News. The incident of arrest and police calling
in the school was so high that it had become a major concern as the students were subjected
to victimization.
Description
To fight against the disorder, such as, fights, assault and disturbances that was
emerging in and around the Belmont High School a combined effort was made by the Dayton
Public School, Dayton Police Department, the Juvenile division of the Montgomery County
Prosecutor’s Office and the Montgomery County Juvenile Court, which is popularly known
as The Urban High School Disorder Reduction Project. The project was intended to address
the issues growing around the school and in their educational performance. The purpose was
to examine the problem oriented policing strategies, comprising Crime Prevention through
Environmental Design, to refuse to provide opportunities for crime and disorder by involving
community partners in a unified alliance. The project proved to be succeeded by reducing the
crimes and improving the measures to meet the educational goals. The school was located in
the southeast Dayton that had a neighbourhood of mix residences of single and multi-
families, government facilities and businesses. In between 2005-2006 and 2010-2011 almost
145 incident of crimes were reported in the area of Belmont High School. It had become a
major concern when in the 2008-2009 academic year, 90 crimes were reported in the 1000
foot radius of the school, which included 51 assault, 3 weapon violated activities, 2 drug
offenses and 3 robberies during the school hour. To combat with this emerging issue the
project plan was implemented in the 2009-2010 academic year, and that resulted into a
decreased rate of crime in that area. A total amount of 21 crimes were reported in the year
only and the most significant decline was observed in the rate of assault which decrease to a

2CRITIQUE OF ANALYSIS
number of 4 from the earlier reported number of 51. An improvement in the test scores and
grades was observed after the notable decline in the crime rates happened.
Theoretical framework to understand why the crime problems were
happening in and around the school
The Routine Activity Theory was applied in this case to explain the occurrence of
crime at the area around the Belmont High School. The Routine Activity Theory focuses on
the situation of crimes to analyse the reason behind occurrence of such incidents (Bacot &
Posick, 2017). The theory was first introduced by Lawrence E. Cohen and Marcus Felson
while they were explaining the changes in the crime rates in the United States. It has been
recognised as the most cited theory of criminology to be applied while detecting the reason of
increasing crime rates. The routine activity theory considered crime as an event and it relates
crime with the surrounding environment and emphasize the ecological process. The routine
activity theory consider that crime is not affected by social causes such as inequality,
unemployment and poverty. The profounder of this theory observed that the expansion of
contemporary society increase the opportunities for crime. For instance, the increasing use of
automobile has helped the offenders in moving more freely to commit the crime such as theft.
The modern lifestyle, urbanization and suburbanization have subsequently led to the
opportunities and occurrence of crime. This theory has been used to study sexual crimes,
cyber-crimes and robberies. The main concern in this case was to determine whether the
motivating or deterrent factors at several residential neighbourhoods encourage or discourage
crime, in which The Routine Activity Theory may play a significant factor (Aic.gov.au.
2018). Applying this theory it was observed that common time frames along with lack of
guardians and suitable targets played as a significant factor to determine the crime incidents.
The highly motivated offenders found that place to be a suitable option for conducting their
activities. The position of the bus stop was an ideal factor that influenced the offenders to

3CRITIQUE OF ANALYSIS
engage in criminal activities. It was found that students used to run from one end to the other
end of the school building which resulted in the collision between the students. The students
were not subject to proper monitor after the school hours and they walked to the public bus
stops after leaving the building. This was clearly the reason behind the growing incidents of
assault, robbery and other crimes in the Belmont High School.
Identify the implicit and explicit hypothesis- the cause of the problem
As the explicit hypothesis in this case it can be considered that the geographical area
of the Belmont High School was the vital reason behind the surrounding criminal activities.
The author regarded that the disorganisation of the classroom was the main issue to create
such disorder within the school. The non conducive organisation of the classroom made the
student run from one part of the building to the other part of the building to attend the classes.
This rush activities of the students led them to a collision between the students. The
confrontation between the students of the various age groups created an environment in the
school that was breaking the rules and peace of the organisation. The unnecessary interaction
within the student took some violent form sometimes and the incidents of assault and robbery
was raised (Iacpcommunitypolicing.org. 2018). As the student left the building of the school
and walked to the bus stand after the end of the school hours, their activities were not
monitored. There were no responsible stakeholders to properly identify the student. There
was a need to regulate, witness or correct the behaviour of the students, which the school
authority failed to conduct. The place management issue the main problem as pointed out by
the author in this case. The disorder, problems or crime in the neighbourhood area was
directly or indirectly associated with the Belmont High School. The public bus stop and the
transport facility of the student were targeted by the offenders to carry on their activities. The
school used two transport systems, one was for the Rapid Transport Authority and the other
was for the students with special needs. The Rapid Transport Authority buses used to pick up

4CRITIQUE OF ANALYSIS
the student from the school to home directly. The buses used to pick up student from a
specified spot. The offenders targeted and used this opportunity in their favour and started
doing the activities like assault and robbery. The school was suffering various challenges
regarding their budget and others. The issue was extended to be faced by the staffs as the
organisations failed to fund the staffs. The Dayton Police Department anticipated a huge loss
for the staffing issue due to the anticipated retirements in 2011 and before. The incidents
around the school can be directly linked with the nature of the surrounding environment. In
the absence of proper guidance and monitoring system the crime issues occurred in the
School. There was no sufficient security and police system outside the school to prevent and
control the students from engaging in any unlawful activities. Students started to resign and
some of such incident of resigning was identified as a major concern for the future of the
school. The Dayton Police Department spent several hours to combat the disturbances that
was broke out in the school premises. An incident was reported on March 2009 near the
Belmont High School when a student hit another one with the back of a chair. These
incidents are the clear evidence of lack of regulatory authorities in the school. The Alley,
nearby the school, which was used by the students of this school to reach to the bus stop on
the Watervilet, was recorded to have a numerous scene of disturbances.
Strength and limitations of the tests and data sources
An interview was conducted for the collection of the data by the author. In that
interview with the school officials it was discovered that the students or the staffs were
motivated by the basic survival. Another survey was conducted by the author to analyse the
study. The strength of the data sources was that it was collected directly from different
sources and various numbers of participants were included in the research to analyse the data.
The sources can be considered as reliable as the responses were derived directly and there
were no chances of manipulation of the data. Additionally, the survey helped in examining

5CRITIQUE OF ANALYSIS
the data based on the geographical factor. The strength of the data sources were that the data
was collected after duly examining the school premises. However, the main limitation of the
study was time. The time consumed for the interview and the survey of collecting data was
limited, and it had also affected the productivity of the respondents. It consumed a great
amount of time of the participants.
The data sources – what data was used to test the effectiveness of the intervention
For this study, the data collected from the interview and survey was used to
effectively analyse the study. By using the standard crime analysis method, a geographical
examination was conducted around the school along with reviewing the calls for services and
arrests made by the police. A meeting was arranged with the patrolling officers for the
purpose of collecting more information about the raising problem and the incidents of crimes.
The background information was interpreted in the form of numbers and percentages to
perceive the effectiveness of the intervention. Meetings were held with the recent and former
Principal of Belmont High School, Dayton Police Crime Analysts and Dayton Public Schools
Security to duly analyse the effect of crime on the performance of the students and their
quality of life within the student population. Additionally, for an in depth analysis, interview
was held with the school officials to know about the stories of criminal behaviour and
victimization.
Improvement in the project
The Urban High School Disorder Reduction Project had achieved its goals in reducing
the rates of crime though it did not gain massive success. It was observed that the
performance of the student had transformed (Popcenter.org. 2018). Still, it can be argued that
the project did not manage to play the actual role for which it was proposed. There was a
problem in this project as it did not help the student to monitor the student after the school.
Though several avenues were pursued for increasing the police and security system around

6CRITIQUE OF ANALYSIS
the school but no specific measures were provided by the project. The project needs to
improve and emphasize on the effective implementation system. It should provide a specific
outline to the guide the School and the other crime prone areas to control the crime. Continue
monitoring of the behaviour of the students is required. The activities of the student should be
subjected to supervision within the school premises as well as outside the school.
Recommendation of adopting the program into Queensland –What factors of a
suburban QLD context might make this program less effective?
The incidents of crime and violence in the Queensland communities are a well known
problem. The role of the police in managing the violence in the members of the communities
is extremely crucial as well as difficult (Behaviour.education.qld.gov.au. 2018). The policing
in the indigenous communities should be improved to ensure that it takes effective steps to
combat the problems. To focus on crime prevention in the Queensland indigenous
communities, the Urban High School Disorder Reduction Project should be adopted. The
security system plays a vital role in any situation of crime. Therefore, the areas with more
criminal problems should adopt the program to identify and address the reason of crime. The
Queensland Government should think about to make necessary funding to expand the
security personnel in the crime prone areas. The Government should examine the existing
policies and develop a new policy based on the existing record of crime. The policies should
be reviewed from time to time. The primary goals of this program are to reduce the disorder
and crime around the school areas as well as developing the quality of life of the students, the
neighbourhood, staffs and develop the academic environment. The adopted program resulted
in a decrease rate of crime, calls for service, juvenile arrests, improvement of grades and test
scores and a progress in the academic standings. Therefore, the program will help in
preventing such crimes like assault, robbery and fight, in the areas of Queensland. The
indigenous intrapersonal communal disturbance and break out of fight in the Queensland can

7CRITIQUE OF ANALYSIS
be addressed with the help of the program of the Urban High School Disorder Project. Not
only for the disturbances and disorder in the school premise but it will also be effective to
solve the similar issue in Queensland. The Department of Communities and Queensland
Corrective Services should allocate resources for the programs.
The suburban areas in Queensland have certain issues or factors that might make the
program less effective. The policing in such areas are not effective enough to identify all the
incidents of crimes (Ccc.qld.gov.au. 2018). Not all such crimes are reported to the
appropriate authority because of the lack of effective system. The risk of violence is also high
in suburban areas as those places hold the highest number of cultural and economic diversity,
which leads to break out of disturbances. It is another one of the factors of the suburban
Queensland context is the lack of responses to the critical incidents. The youth in such areas
are exposed to adopt more disorder as the chances of disarray are excessive in those areas.

8CRITIQUE OF ANALYSIS
References
Aic.gov.au. (2018). Retrieved from https://aic.gov.au/publications/rpp/rpp120/crime-
prevention-approaches-theory-and-mechanisms
Bacot, J., & Posick, C. (2017). Routine Activity Theory. The Encyclopedia of
Juvenile Delinquency and Justice, 1-5.
Behaviour.education.qld.gov.au. (2018). Retrieved from
http://behaviour.education.qld.gov.au/SiteCollectionDocuments/preventing-bullying-
violence/weapons-in-schools.pdf
Ccc.qld.gov.au. (2018). Retrieved from
http://www.ccc.qld.gov.au/research-and.../cjc/briefing-paper-on-crime-in-queensland.pdf
Iacpcommunitypolicing.org. (2018). Retrieved from
https://www.iacpcommunitypolicing.org/profile?uid=224&blog=94
Popcenter.org. (2018). Retrieved from
http://www.popcenter.org/conference/.../WilliamsUrbanHighSchoolDisorderReduction.pdf