Poverty is not a lifestyle.
I am not so sure "Broken Windows" policing serves the people so much as the police. The basis of Broken Windows is that once a neighborhood's environment is in good repair social pressures take over to minimize crime. That is not what is occurring. People are being killed by an overbearing police presence. Broken Windows may have statistics on it's side, but, the price the neighborhood pays is not reasonable.
To begin, "Broken Windows" is not the law. It is a theoretical practice instilled by police to bring benefit to neighborhoods. This is from George Mason University.
The broken windows model (click here) of policing was first described in 1982 in a seminal article by Wilson and Kelling. Briefly, the model focuses on the importance of disorder (e.g. broken windows) in generating and sustaining more serious crime. Disorder is not directly linked to serious crime; instead, disorder leads to increased fear and withdrawal from residents, which then allows more serious crime to move in because of decreased levels of informal social control. The police can play a key role in disrupting this process. If they focus in on disorder and less serious crime in neighborhoods that have not yet been overtaken by serious crime, they can help reduce fear and resident withdrawal. Promoting higher levels of informal social control will help residents themselves take control of their neighborhood and prevent serious crime from infiltrating.
There are also former police officers coming on media stating there have been eight people killed and 12 shootings since the arrests were made of police in Baltimore.
Informal social control (click here) refers to the reactions of individuals and groups that bring about conformity to norms and laws.
"Broken Windows" model is suppose to bring about greater freedom to the neighborhood to bring about social norms. That isn't what is happening. A human being is not a broken window.
Freddie Gray was innocent. He was part of the social norms of the neighborhood. The social norms of the neighborhood was a Drug Economy because there was no other alternative for money to live. In the USA there is very little alternative to the 'Abject Poor.' That is why the neighborhood is so challenged. The fact there was a CVS is testimony to the priorities and efforts by the neighborhood in Baltimore. But, it wasn't the neighborhood that spontaneously burned down the CVS building, it was because they reached their breaking point when still yet another man died in 'the van/wagon.'
The application of "Broken Windows" to a neighborhood with 50 percent unemployment is completely wrong. It is not good policing. These folks need more than police.
I think President Obama has it right. Cities are using their police to contain a larger problem. If there was a community plagued with severe violence and citizens could not walk to the CVS without fear of assault or a danger of some kind, "Broken Windows" might apply.
How many times was the CVS robbed? I found one armed robbery of a CVS in Baltimore.
April 3, 2013
By Julia Baughman
...On Jan. 18, at about 9 p.m., (click here) police said two women assaulted a third woman in the parking lot of the CVS Pharmacy in the 5600 block of Baltimore National Pike and tried to take her car keys....
I am not sure about the geography of the city. This may or may not be the CVS that was burnt down. It appears from this article the police didn't ask for help from the community in identifying the armed robbers for over two months. That's ridiculous. Community leaders should be tasked as soon as possible to bring about results.
The problems the people of this neighborhood have are due to society's willingness to allow abject poverty. The larger society is not answering the problems these folks face day to day that are due to poverty and not crime. Crime exists in the absence of opportunity. That is a fact. The police aren't to blame for the poverty. They are doing a job asked of them, but, the police are also not advocating for the people to relieve the presence of crime and guns by addressing the economic needs of the people they seek to protect.
Baltimore, Maryland and the USA needs to do better. The country's police, especially police leadership, have to bring attention to the poverty and the crime that results. The police are in neighborhoods everyday. They have knowledge of the poverty first hand and the danger that presents for doing their jobs. Police leadership is not doing the right job if they simply dispatch police. Police leadership has to take on the responsibility of advocating the problems the people face leading to crime. If police leadership simply work to contain a problem without identifying it so the city, state and country 'have no problem,' that is not being an officer so much as a jailer.
People cannot ignore the stark reality of black men in their encounters with police. People are dying at the hand of the officer. They are unarmed and sometimes they are only 12 years old. We can demonize 'the gun' forever without results. But, to address the underlying problems of the neighborhoods will be effective.
Police leadership should be answerable to their officers that encounter the poverty all the time. The police should be answerable to the people of communities in a relationship that works to end crime and brings about a quality of life every citizen of this country is guaranteed by their birth. Communication all along the line of authority is paramount. We witnessed what communication did in Baltimore yesterday to calm a neighborhood with anxiety over more deaths of innocent people. The power structure is all wrong and works to oppress the problems of the people and not solve them.
I am not so sure "Broken Windows" policing serves the people so much as the police. The basis of Broken Windows is that once a neighborhood's environment is in good repair social pressures take over to minimize crime. That is not what is occurring. People are being killed by an overbearing police presence. Broken Windows may have statistics on it's side, but, the price the neighborhood pays is not reasonable.
To begin, "Broken Windows" is not the law. It is a theoretical practice instilled by police to bring benefit to neighborhoods. This is from George Mason University.
The broken windows model (click here) of policing was first described in 1982 in a seminal article by Wilson and Kelling. Briefly, the model focuses on the importance of disorder (e.g. broken windows) in generating and sustaining more serious crime. Disorder is not directly linked to serious crime; instead, disorder leads to increased fear and withdrawal from residents, which then allows more serious crime to move in because of decreased levels of informal social control. The police can play a key role in disrupting this process. If they focus in on disorder and less serious crime in neighborhoods that have not yet been overtaken by serious crime, they can help reduce fear and resident withdrawal. Promoting higher levels of informal social control will help residents themselves take control of their neighborhood and prevent serious crime from infiltrating.
There are also former police officers coming on media stating there have been eight people killed and 12 shootings since the arrests were made of police in Baltimore.
Informal social control (click here) refers to the reactions of individuals and groups that bring about conformity to norms and laws.
"Broken Windows" model is suppose to bring about greater freedom to the neighborhood to bring about social norms. That isn't what is happening. A human being is not a broken window.
Freddie Gray was innocent. He was part of the social norms of the neighborhood. The social norms of the neighborhood was a Drug Economy because there was no other alternative for money to live. In the USA there is very little alternative to the 'Abject Poor.' That is why the neighborhood is so challenged. The fact there was a CVS is testimony to the priorities and efforts by the neighborhood in Baltimore. But, it wasn't the neighborhood that spontaneously burned down the CVS building, it was because they reached their breaking point when still yet another man died in 'the van/wagon.'
The application of "Broken Windows" to a neighborhood with 50 percent unemployment is completely wrong. It is not good policing. These folks need more than police.
I think President Obama has it right. Cities are using their police to contain a larger problem. If there was a community plagued with severe violence and citizens could not walk to the CVS without fear of assault or a danger of some kind, "Broken Windows" might apply.
How many times was the CVS robbed? I found one armed robbery of a CVS in Baltimore.
April 3, 2013
By Julia Baughman
...On Jan. 18, at about 9 p.m., (click here) police said two women assaulted a third woman in the parking lot of the CVS Pharmacy in the 5600 block of Baltimore National Pike and tried to take her car keys....
I am not sure about the geography of the city. This may or may not be the CVS that was burnt down. It appears from this article the police didn't ask for help from the community in identifying the armed robbers for over two months. That's ridiculous. Community leaders should be tasked as soon as possible to bring about results.
The problems the people of this neighborhood have are due to society's willingness to allow abject poverty. The larger society is not answering the problems these folks face day to day that are due to poverty and not crime. Crime exists in the absence of opportunity. That is a fact. The police aren't to blame for the poverty. They are doing a job asked of them, but, the police are also not advocating for the people to relieve the presence of crime and guns by addressing the economic needs of the people they seek to protect.
Baltimore, Maryland and the USA needs to do better. The country's police, especially police leadership, have to bring attention to the poverty and the crime that results. The police are in neighborhoods everyday. They have knowledge of the poverty first hand and the danger that presents for doing their jobs. Police leadership is not doing the right job if they simply dispatch police. Police leadership has to take on the responsibility of advocating the problems the people face leading to crime. If police leadership simply work to contain a problem without identifying it so the city, state and country 'have no problem,' that is not being an officer so much as a jailer.
People cannot ignore the stark reality of black men in their encounters with police. People are dying at the hand of the officer. They are unarmed and sometimes they are only 12 years old. We can demonize 'the gun' forever without results. But, to address the underlying problems of the neighborhoods will be effective.
Police leadership should be answerable to their officers that encounter the poverty all the time. The police should be answerable to the people of communities in a relationship that works to end crime and brings about a quality of life every citizen of this country is guaranteed by their birth. Communication all along the line of authority is paramount. We witnessed what communication did in Baltimore yesterday to calm a neighborhood with anxiety over more deaths of innocent people. The power structure is all wrong and works to oppress the problems of the people and not solve them.
Informal social control refers to the reactions of individuals and groups that bring about conformity to norms and laws.
Source: Boundless. “Informal Means of Control.” Boundless Sociology. Boundless, 06 Jan. 2015. Retrieved 05 May. 2015 from https://www.boundless.com/sociology/textbooks/boundless-sociology-textbook/deviance-social-control-and-crime-7/social-control-60/informal-means-of-control-369-3188/
Source: Boundless. “Informal Means of Control.” Boundless Sociology. Boundless, 06 Jan. 2015. Retrieved 05 May. 2015 from https://www.boundless.com/sociology/textbooks/boundless-sociology-textbook/deviance-social-control-and-crime-7/social-control-60/informal-means-of-control-369-3188/
