and burglary clearances declined 8 percent each. Decreases
in solutions were universally reported by all population
groups and by all geographic divisions. The highest over-
all Crime Index clearance rate regionally was recorded by
the North Central and Southern States 24 percent, followed
by the Western States 21 percent and the Northeastern
States 20 percent."

This decline in clearance percentages, like the rise in the crime rate, has been continuing for some years. Between 1964 and 1967 national clearance percentages declined for the following crimes:

Neither the national nor the regional clearance percentages are adequate for the majority of serious crimes committed. The trend in the Washington metropolitan region closely parallels that of the nation; clearance percentages are falling steadily as crime rises steadily. All of these statistics indicate that the axiom: "Crime does not pay!" is no longer a self-evident truth. In Uniform Crime Report, 1967, compiled by the FBI, robbery, for example, paid the perpetrator an average of:

$135 per street attack;

$399 per commercial establishment;
$117 per gasoline station;

$506 per chain store;

$375 per residence; and

$5083 per bank attacked.

Crime does "pay". Presently it pays very well.

As indicated earlier, the main thrust of the Council's past activities in the field of regional law enforcement planning has been to develop programs or services which could be offered regionally and

32. Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Department of Justice, Uniform Crime Report (U.S. Government Printing Office: Washington D.C.) 1959-p.11; 1964-p.21; 1967-p.31.

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which had the potential for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of area police agencies. All past activities were initiated in cooperation with the Regional Police Chiefs' Committee of the Council.

Because this Program Design activity has been viewed as an updating, or extension, of past law enforcement activities, the members of the Regional Police Chiefs' Committee were asked to participate in the identification of problem areas to be attacked and in the selection of specific law enforcement project proposals.

Key members of the Committee were interviewed by the Council's Public Safety staff. Prior to the interviews, a questionnaire was designed which listed many police problem areas and possible solutions as identified by the President's Crime Commission in their Task Force Report: The Police and by the 1965 Wise Report. Those interviewed were asked to evaluate the significance of the national report for this metropolitan area and to identify proposals made by the Wise Report which should be revised, updated or particularly emphasized.

The end result was a list of law enforcement problems which urgently concern area police agencies (see Appendix E) and a list of cooperative regional projects directed toward these problem areas which should be initiated by the Council of Governments during the next five years.

B.

DESCRIPTION OF SELECTED LAW ENFORCEMENT PROGRAMS

Ten regional law enforcement projects were identified by the Police Chiefs' Committee and the Council's Public Safety staff. It is recommended that the Council of Governments accomplish the following in the next five years.

PROJECT LE-1:

Information Exchange Service

Statement of Problem:

"It is readily evident that many criminal justice problems
result from the lack of complete and timely information."
(Task Force Report on the Police p.57)

The recent implementation of the computerized Washington Area Law Enforcement System (WALES) is beginning to bridge the "information gap" which has existed for some years in the Washington metropolitan

area.

Eventually this information system will provide field personnel with instant data on wanted persons, stolen cars, stolen property, modus operandi, etc. However, the information gap will be far from closed. Other types of information and methods of collecting and displaying information, both detailed and summary, are of critical importance to police agencies. All police agencies now face the problem of collecting, filing and retrieving huge masses of information for intelligence purposes. Most attempts to perform this task efficiently have been unsuccessful because of insufficient manpower and funding.

Data banks must be cost-effective. The WALES network, connecting all major regional police jurisdictions, fills this requirement because the total cost of the operation is divided among the participating police agencies.

Sharing of information is an important step in promoting interjurisdictional cooperation to combat organized crime, vice and other police problems.

For a number of years the Regional Police Chiefs' Committee has been active in areawide police problem solving. As a body they have established an areawide police Intelligence Subcommittee which periodically exchanges intelligence information and discusses intelligence affairs. Regardless of how thorough this periodic dialogue may be, it is almost impossible for every police officer concerned with intelligence-gathering to be completely and accurately informed on all areawide intelligence affairs. It is even difficult to keep fully informed on all intelligence matters within one jurisdiction, especially when that jurisdiction is in a highly urbanized

area.

In addition to the need for intelligence information, other types of information are necessary. For instance, police administrators occasionally require highly specialized evaluations of new police weapors, such as MACE33 (liquid tear gas spray) and similar devices. They may need to know the latest organizational concepts to structure their departments. Officers taking university courses

33. This is a tradename, however, the spray of all manufacturers is popularly called MACE.

must also have research materials available to them. Moreover, the planning function cannot be effective if reference books are not readily available. In other words, the new information gaps within police agencies are growing as fast as old information gaps are eliminated with tools like WALES. To operate efficiently and effectively, the police must have proper tools and sufficient information.

Statement of Objectives:

The objective of this project will be to provide both the general and specific information necessary for the proper functioning of metropolitan police agencies.

Proposed Program:

It is recommended that the Council of Governments accomplish the following:

1.

2.

3.

Centralize non-classified intelligence data by monitoring
area newspapers and periodicals and identify other sources of
intelligence information which can be included in a data
collection and dissemination system.

Maintain a general law enforcement information file containing names, titles, locations and telephone numbers of all key area police officials; current pay schedules of all area police agencies; number of authorized personnel; recruiting standards; and lists of police officers possessing unusual skills.

Develop an inventory of publications currently available to
police officers and initiate a cooperative regional lending
service.

4. Maintain a clearinghouse for staff reports produced by police planning units.

*These costs will be incurred through the purchase of equipment needed for filing, storing, retrieving, printing and mailing of materials required by this project. In addition, costs will be incurred for the purchase of books, library furniture and subscriptions needed to develop an adequate information center.