NCJ Number
81071
Date Published
1981
Length
234 pages
Annotation
This final report on the San Jose (California) Police Department's Integrated Criminal Apprehension Project (ICAP) details the activities of the Operations Support Unit (OSU) created to process all burglary and receiving stolen property cases and screen out those with little prospect of solution.
Abstract
This document first provides basic information about San Jose and its police department, emphasizing problems stemming from severe budgetary restrictions coupled with a high growth rate. A review of LEAA grant administration covers adjustments to the original grant, staffing, evaluation, and coordination with the national ICAP program. The OSU's actual implementation in November 1980 was preceded by over 2 years of research documenting the entire report generation and flow process and developing a model to reform the existing system. The report reviews these activities along with methods used to gain staff cooperation and physically locate the OSU. The project decided to have the OSU initially handle only burglary cases because a high proportion of these crimes have little chance of being solved and simply create unnecessary paperwork for investigators. It then developed screening methods and solvability factors, devised new reporting forms, and obtained a State grant for additional staff. The operational OSU consists of three sections: centralized case control, crime analysis, and information coordination. A description of the functions of each section demonstrates how data on a crime is collected, evaluated, and referred to appropriate law enforcement units. During its first 10 weeks, the OSU screened out 79.4 percent of the 3,265 cases it processed, providing better information to investigators and allowing them to allocate time more effectively. The appendixes contain materials on computer equipment used in the project, flowcharts, forms, and a report on the beat restructuring project that was included in the original ICAP application. For project evaluation, see NCJ 81070.