Hi guys!

Question:
"The city council in Smithville has recommended making changes to police procedures to improve the visibility of the police force. These changes include hiring more police officers, budgeting more funds for police overtime, and directing officers to patrol significantly more often on foot rather than in their patrol cars. These improvements in visibility would significantly lower the crime rate in Smithville and make its citizens feel safer.

Answer:
The author states that the city council of Smithville has decided that certain improvements to police procedures will significantly lower the crime rate in smithville and make its citizens feel safer. Improvements such as hiring more police officers, budgeting more funds for police overtime, and directing officers to patrol more often on foot than from their control cars are all listed as aspects that would improve the safety of the town. However, there is not enough evidence given to demonstrate that these improvements would effectively lower the town’s crime rate.
First, the author states that hiring more police officers will certainly lower the crime rate. This is not necessarily true. The emergence of more police officers will not definitively change the crime rate of the town. While having more people employed as police officers may make the town’s citizens feel safer, this feeling by itself is not critical to the actual lowering of the crime rate. Instead, as police officers come to respond to a crime after it is committed, it is not necessarily the abundance of more police officers which are going to keep the crime rate at an acceptable rate. This is because crime is not going to be prevented by having more people employed to defend against it, instead a city must go on the offense -- providing social institutions such as welfare and rehab centers -- which help to prevent desperate people from committing crimes in the first place.
Additionally, the author states that budgeting more funds for police overtime would be an effective strategy in terms of lowering the crime rate and making Smithville’s citizens feel safer. This statement certainly needs to be backed up with more evidence before it is employed. While additional overtime pay may seem inviting to officers, allowing officers the opportunity of overtime is slightly dangerous, as it may tempt officers to work more than they physically should in order to be paid this overtime amount. This may lead an officer to become tired on the job, and could allow the officer to make decisions because of that tiredness that threaten the safety of themselves and of other people around them.
Furthermore, the author does not explain the current police procedures and policies, and does not provide current crime rates of Smithville. It is difficult to determine whether or not Smithville needs to make any changes before knowing the current policies and crime rate. On top of that, one must know the current person in charge of the police station in Smithville before deciding on any of these improvements, as one must ensure that the person in charge of conducting those improvements will use the program’s budget in a way that will genuinely benefit both the officers and the citizens of Smithville. Who is asking for thes
In conclusion, while these improvements certainly wouldn’t cause the crime rate to increase or cause the citizens of Smithville to feel unsafe, the author does not sufficiently explain why these improvements are needed. The author does not tell the audience how these improvements would directly make Smithville’s citizens feel safer, or how these improvements would lower the crime rate. Simply adding a larger budget will not decrease the issues that the citizens of Smithville are facing, that budget must be analyzed and used effectively if positive change is going to be enacted. The author must add information to his statement on the crime rate, the well being of the people, and the integrity of the police department before any changes can be made.