I just listened to the 2 part podcast “History of Police Oppression of Africans in America” and I have to correct the discussion about Broken Windows Policing in part 2 of the podcasts.
The podcast:
At the 16:00 minute make the discussion turns to what is Broken Windows Policing. The Interviewee Ronald Hampton is touted as a policing expert. Mr. Hampton presents that Broken Windows Policing in New York City (NYC) was used to victimize city residents. Hampton argues that incarceration grew because of Broken Windows Policing. More youths were arrest for just simply doing what youths do like hanging around street corners. At the 19:00 minute mark Dr. Ron Daniels (the host) adds that Broken Windows Policing criminalized person side hustles such as 3 card monte street games and squeegee men.
My critique:
The discussion about Broken Windows Policing was at the very least inflated or misconstrued at worst the discussion purposely misrepresented the facts about Broken Windows Policing. Broken Windows Policing transformed NYC to the safest large city in America. In the 1990’s the implementation of Broken Windows Policing as the predominate crime-fighting strategy lowered crime and made NYC safer. Broken Windows Policing was used to enforce the rules, violations, and crimes that affected New Yorker’s quality-of-life. Arrests for city ordinances or penal law violations alone did not increase incarceration in NYC. Youth did not go to jail for hanging around street corners. At most police would have the youth move on or take them to the police precinct and release the youth to their parents. Youths or juveniles can’t be arrested for any offense less than a crime. Lastly, 3 card monte street games and squeegee men are perfect examples of the type of quality-of-life violations that New Yorker’s wanted to end. Three (3) card monte street games are fraudulent schemes to trick people out of money. The fraudsters also worked the crowd to pickpocket observers. Squeegee men would spill substances on windows, step in front of vehicles, and threaten occupants to coerce the drive to paying for a car windshield cleaning. Both 3 card monte street games and squeegee men activities were crimes.
Dive deeper into Broken Windows Policing with these key resources:
Bratton, William, and Peter Knobler. Turnaround: How America’s top cop reversed the crime epidemic. Random House, 2009.
Kelling, George L., and Catherine M. Coles. Fixing broken windows: Restoring order and reducing crime in our communities. Simon and Schuster, 1997.
Kelling, George L., and James Q. Wilson. “Broken windows.” Atlantic monthly 249, no. 3 (1982): 29-38.
Maple, Jack, and Chris Mitchell. The crime fighter: Putting the bad guys out of business. Crown, 2010.
Future of Policing 