NYC Broken Windows debate.

[hrmjustin]

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broken_windows_theory

Steve Zeidman: Is broken windows broken? Yes

STEVE ZEIDMAN

While Eric Garner's tragic death in police custody, ruled a homicide Friday by the city's medical examiner, has prompted inquiries into police use of force and chokeholds, his passing should also compel a larger investigation into why the police felt compelled to arrest Garner, who they've said was selling loose cigarettes, in the first place.

That inquiry must start by looking with fresh, long-overdue skepticism at the signature "broken windows" theory that's supposedly one of the hallmarks of the city's crime decline.

Given the tremendous, mostly positive publicity it has engendered, it is surprising to many that this heralded theory of policing is a five-page essay published in The Atlantic in 1982. The article's theme is that untended minor criminal behavior leads inexorably to serious street crime. One broken window left unaddressed will soon yield a building filled with broken windows. As the authors famously wrote, "[T]he unchecked panhandler is, in effect, the first broken window."

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/broken-windows-broken-yes-article-1.1889011

Michael Jenkins: Is 'broken windows' broken? No

MICHAEL JENKINS

The death of Eric Garner at the hands of police is undoubtedly heartbreaking. As Mayor de Blasio and Commissioner Bill Bratton have said, the city has an obligation to figure out what went wrong - and to learn to do better in the future.

There are many reasons why police interactions with a citizen might turn unnecessarily deadly, including ineffective training, poor supervision and the officer's personality, biases or misinterpretations of the situation.

But broken windows policing is not part of the problem, and it's time to stop blaming police attention to "small" laws for terrible tragedies like this.

Only rarely does that attention involve force - in just 1.5% of the tens of millions of police-citizen interactions nationwide. The use of excessive force is even less common. And the main predictor of the officer's use of force is the suspect's actions - not the race of the suspect, the race of the cop or the type of crime that's being addressed.


http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/broken-windows-broken-article-1.1889014

[NYC_SKP]

1. I think broken windows applies, but in a different fashion than when first applied.

In this case, the "first broken window" is that all too common incident of unjustifiable use of force by police which, left unchecked leads to a second and third until somebody's in trouble.

Even then, it's lost over time and nothing is done.

Maybe if we had a "zero tolerance", "one strike" policy to keep TPTB in line with our frakking civil rights.

This line:

Only rarely does that attention involve force - in just 1.5% of the tens of millions of police-citizen interactions nationwide. The use of excessive force is even less common. And the main predictor of the officer's use of force is the suspect's actions - not the race of the suspect, the race of the cop or the type of crime that's being addressed.

Really? "just" 1.5%? Let's not minimize this and please, let's not blame the suspect or play down racial profiling.

The article seems to want to minimize the problem we have with police interactions with the public. To be sure, PCP users and violent people require use of force, but training is available and provided, but the police have to follow that training and if they can't they need to find another line of work.

[hrmjustin]

2. Yes there does seem to be an attempt to minimize this and not address the issues by some.

Thankfully the mayor is not one of them.

[hrmjustin]

3. How 'Broken Windows' Could Stand In The Way Of Real Change For The NYPD

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/01/broken-windows-policing-eric-garner_n_5642089.html?utm_hp_ref=new-york&ir=New%20York

[hrmjustin]

4. NYPD says it responds to ‘nearly all’ FOIL requests

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/city-hall/2014/08/8550104/nypd-says-it-responds-nearly-all-foil-requests

[hrmjustin]

5. Pols, locals rally in Brooklyn against illegal chokeholds and ‘broken windows’ theory of policing

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/crime/barron-broken-windows-broken-article-1.1898942