41–50 of 155 posts
While a sad and interesting story, why is this on HN?
This leads to interesting hacker-cultural questions: How will policing adapt, if at all? Can more tech help?
Seattle has half the cops that some big cities have (20 per 10,000 residents). New York and Chicago have around 40, Boston 33. http://www.governing.com/gov-data/safety-justice/police-offi...
http://crosscut.com/2014/10/20/law-justice/122409/judge-toss...
But they won't use any force against known criminals who are right in front of them.
Could the two be related? Especially because the "non-arrest" policy for break-ins appears to be recent.
Take care of the small stuff and the big stuff will take care of itself. The broken windows theory is a criminological theory of the norm-setting and signaling effect of urban disorder and vandalism on additional crime and anti-social behavior. The theory states that maintaining and monitoring urban environments in a well-ordered condition may stop further vandalism and escalation into more serious crime[1]. From the…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I disagree, and I don't think hyperbole furthers the discussion. I've been helped by police in many cities (in America and elsewhere) on several occasions. I've also witnessed harassment, abuse of power, and indifference- fortunately less so than the former.
The above commenter stated "The police are never there to help you". as in, that it is not their purpose. Although I have no doubt you have encountered some police that went above and beyond their job description to help you, this does not change the fact that helping you is not their job, or purpose.
No one is saying they expect the police to carry your groceries inside. They are law enforcement officers whose job description is to enforce laws. If they can't/wont' do that because of external factors, then citizens should be told the truth about why that is. Vigilantism comes from a sense of injustice, that the system doesn't work for unknown reasons. Without that transparency, we are left to fill that void in understanding with our imaginations.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wouldn't reducing petty crime lead to a reduction in overall crime? This is a serious question because I really don't know the answer. It could go both ways: (a) You catch small crooks, and they lead you to bigger fish. (b) You catch small crooks, and they can't do the job, so bigger fish recruits new small fish and the cycle begins again. (c) You catch small crooks, the big fish gets angry and starts to cause real s…
I think that it would. While Giuliani's "broken windows" theory was probably overshadowed by the fading of crack and the clarification of gang territory, it seems pretty conclusive that enforcing minor crimes leads to keeping felons off the streets. Enforcing subway turnstiles led to the capture of a TON of gun-carrying felons that would have otherwise gone on to rob, rape, and murder New Yorkers. Unfortunately, libe…
You want to enforce smaller laws? Great. You want the police to randomly stop and search citizens? Get the fuck out of my country.
I would hope that it would not take too many incidents of private security 'resolving' issues to see that a police force doing its job is a far more preferred solution.
Take care of the small stuff and the big stuff will take care of itself. The broken windows theory is a criminological theory of the norm-setting and signaling effect of urban disorder and vandalism on additional crime and anti-social behavior. The theory states that maintaining and monitoring urban environments in a well-ordered condition may stop further vandalism and escalation into more serious crime[1]. From the…
Just yesterday in the civic center area here in SF I'm getting a sandwich and this mentally ill (or really high, or both) bum lady walks into the shop and proceeds to howl at the top of her lungs for 10 minutes, dance around the shop, kick down a bunch of seats. Right next to her is a hole in the wall punched by some other mentally infirm person that same day. Nothing. The staff is used to it, I'm used to it, the oth…
Your attitude is the reason people with mental health issues often are reluctant to seek help. Because they are stigmatized, and mental health is quickly becoming criminalized.
I really hate to see blind hatred for the police on HN. It's a tough goddamn job, people, made all the more so by political pressure to improve statistics. As pointed out elsewhere in this thread, police are forced to focus on serious crimes and solvable crimes and avoid minor and unsolvable crimes. Nobody wants it to work that way, but departments are hammered when they bring down crime stats. This story is pretty o…
Blind hatred for police seems to stem from experience. My father said once (after I had a particularly horrible, and unfair besting, by the police) that I had no respect for the police because I had never been in a situation where I had seen heroism, or been helped. The police have never stopped a robber from burgling my house, or stopped a violent crime from happening to me or anyone I know. The point is, that anecd…
I should say that of course, there are police officers
who work hard, are incorruptible and are genuine
upstanding citizens who enforce laws and are just.
TBH, the only thing that could possible change things is to apply competition in police work. I'd love to see municipalities maintain two police forces and fund them according to how effective they are. Make them compete and they will improve or go out of business.
[0] http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/10/the-police-ar...