Facts are Stubborn Things

Who knew that enforcing the law, prevented crime

In his memoirs, the Supreme Court's Chief Justice Earl Warren declared that "all of us must assume a share of the responsibility" for rising crime rates in the 1960s because "for decades we have swept under the rug" the slum conditions that breed crime.

Homicide rates among black males went down by 18 percent in the 1940s and by 22 percent in the 1950s. It was in the 1960s, when the ideas of Chief Justice Warren and others triumphed, that this long decline in homicide rates among black males reversed and skyrocketed by 89 percent, wiping out all the progress of the previous 20 years.

Ghetto riots, which erupted in the 1960s, were blamed on poverty and discrimination. But what were the facts?

Poverty and discrimination were worse in the South than in the rest of the country. But ghetto riots were not nearly as common in the South.

The most deadly ghetto riot of the 1960s occurred in Detroit, where 43 people were killed -- 33 of whom were black. In Detroit at that time, black median family income was 95 percent of white median family income. The unemployment rate among blacks was 3.4 percent and black home ownership was higher in Detroit than in any other major city.

What was different about Detroit was that politicians put the police under orders that restricted their response to riots -- and some rioters said "the fuzz is scared." It was black victims who paid the highest price for letting rioters run amuck.

There are two schools of thought when it comes to Police work. One is called the broken window theory. This theory is that if you ignore the small, quality of life crimes (Trespassing, public intoxication, littering, street level drug sales/use), or "The Broken Window" then the bigger crimes will happen more.

The other is called Community Oriented Policing (COPs). This is where Police and the "Community Leaders" try to address the "Underlying problems" that cause crimes. This is where instead of enforcement, warnings are given and programs are created to help those who have "Been led astray" become more productive citizens. Those in law enforcement like to call this philosophy, "Hug a Thug"

My squad is a firm believer in the broken window. In our area we have one of the worse public housing areas of the city. Last summer, we ran call to call on assaults, stabbings, and various other debauchery. In April, we decided a no tolerance policy on trespassing, and other quality of life crimes in the area. This summer has been quiet and on one night we pulled into the area on a loud music call. As we were getting out of our cars, we overheard someone in the crowd say, "It's time to go, those are the ones that arrest people". We make more arrests than our opposite rotation, but violent crime is down during our work days, and calls for service have dropped overall. We have even had a few people that actually live in the area tell us thank you, they can finally be outside and sleep at night. So you tell me which one works, hold people accountable for their actions, or tell them it's not their fault, but their circumstances?