One site I like to lurk on over to is ‘Badger Blogger‘, and those of you who do the same will not be disappointed. My brother lives in Wisconsin now, so I like to stay up on local issues, but aside from that, it is probably the only venue on the net where I’ve seen posts regarding the murder rate in US cities (in this case Milwaukee). I am deeply interested in this issue, and believe that it can be an area of our politics where the last couple decades of “trial and error” and the data it has produced can bring the left and the right together on how to solve the problem of crime. It runs much deeper than this aspect I’m highlighting today, but on a basic level we all need to agree that the amount of funding for police departments to staff up year to year has to be a fundamental aspect of whatever policy is employed to deal with the issue.
The folks over at Badger Blogger are predominantly right-wingers, and the approach that was taken to introduce the issue today was one I’ve grown to resent a great deal over the years. It gets a lot of play on right-wing radio, but happens to be 100% unproductive in regards to affecting the crime rate, and instead turns the matter of violent crime into some kind of a game for white people…to feel good about themselves on their drive to work. The tired approach of course, is to not even look into whether or not police are funded, witnesses are protected, etc…but to instead pontificate forever on the fact that black rappers talk about sex, drugs and violence in their music. Indeed, it is an indisputable fact that they rap about these things. How it pertains to the level of violent crime rising year after year, I have no idea. When violent crime dropped in the 90s, rappers were making money doing the exact same thing. But onto the video I pulled from the house. I’d rather we ponder this and leave the music alone for a second, because if the goal is to actually address the issue, there is plenty of NON-ABSTRACT ground we can cover quite easily.
(paraphrasing) Rep Weiner: “We know that it was successful, because the government accountability office looked at the connection between police officers and a drop in crime and found a correlation. The University of Nebraska did a study and of all the varying elements that go into reducing crime, with the fact that there were over 110,000 new police on the streets added through the COPS program, a correlative effect? And the answer is yes…my colleagues on that side of the aisle eliminated the hiring program…”
Good article!!
Actually, as the government accountability office should know quite well, correlation is not causality. There is a very persuasive reason that crime dropped in the ’90s and is on the upswing today. Then, the boomers were aging, and the supply of young males dwindled. But the aging boomers also reproduced, and their offspring are now replenishing the young male supply.
If you want a truly striking correlation, check out the crime rates v. the young male rates. Hiring and firing legions of cops are one way to deal with this inexorable relationship, but it’s hardly a cause.
jeffreydj – – – The visibility of police in areas where open air drug markets exist cuts down on the violent crime. This is a fact. Most of us don’t live in neighborhoods where this takes place, so we apply the logic that fits our reality.
When the beat cop isn’t recognizable, known to all the players…when that beat cop doesn’t know one face from another, it is much easier for violent crime rates to grow, as cases don’t get solved, and the risk/reward isn’t to where someone decides it’s not worth it.
I’m all set with the GAO or a think tank, their explanation of how fewer cops in those neighborhoods where the spike in violence is occurring doesn’t play a role in why the spike happens in the first place.
Deliver this sociological explanation to the residents within those communities who aren’t part of the criminal element! They have to live too. Often we live far enough away from all this, yet when a report that violent crime is on the rise meets our ears, it is somehow understood that “we” are victims. That’s bullshit. Those citizens I described, those living amongst it because they have no other choice but to…who go to work, pay their taxes and have to worry about stray bullets. FOR THEM, it is a zero sum game. Obviously you can’t completely eradicate the criminal element or the drug sales that create the underground economy…but you can employ a strategy that makes it harder for that element to completely envelop the community.
That is done with police. It cannot be done without enough police on the job. And once that capacity IS there – then comes the training. Another article/essay altogether, but my point here was to counter your argument about less police not playing a part in the rise in violent crime.
there was a story or blog post somewhere about how some high crime communities will not cooperate with police because of some sort of culture pressure. It had a specific name but the point was; the people weren’t telling the cops what they needed to know (such as murder suspects) and crime rates in those areas were particularly higher. I will see if I can find it.
Stop Snitchin’ — It is a sign of the apocalypse. Law enforcement cannot protect witnesses even if they do step up, and since it is a poor/minority community problem, government doesn’t really care about it. State and local government do of course, but there’s no money right now on those two levels, and there’s really not a meaningful debate on the problem that exists in the mainstream, and so the amount of ideas and solutions being batted around are low.