The Assault on ‘Broken Windows’ Policing

Assault?

I was seeing more opposition to the quality-of-life policing 15 years ago than I am seeing today. They have also eased up a lot since the mid to late 90s through the early 2000s, on the kinds of quality of life things they were rousting people over.

That editorial is a bit of a strawman.

I don't think the typical New Yorker opposes broken windows policing, per se. They oppose a police force that occasionally gets out of control in how it treats certain people. To the extent that broken windows policing has made some cops think it is OK to smack people around when making arrests, or plant evidence to create arrests (things that keep coming up over and over again), I'd say those are the things most people oppose. Where is Bratton with his editorial about that?

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/12/n...officers-and-unidentified-informers.html?_r=0

 

In case you want some links to back up the other part -- smacking people around. ... Here is just the latest from today:

http://nypost.com/2014/12/19/nypd-investigating-cop-who-punched-boy-during-arrest/

Not even the recent PR problems for the NYPD made this idiot think twice before he rushed over throwing punches.

 

1) These stories only come to light when the cops get caught -- something that doesn't happen often, because we have a system that continually convicts people on no evidence other than the word of a cop.
2) That was just one link. Do you really need me to post links to other instances from the last few years? For example, the cop who went to prison for planting drugs on someone, and the others that were implicated for doing the same thing in the narcotics unit. ... and the spate of stories after that from former NYPD saying it happens regularly because of arrest quotas?
3) Little of this is about overt racism, although when you get a bunch of lunkheads together and give them ridiculous authority over others, there are likely to be a few racists in the group. In the recent case, they not only were pressuring the cops to make gun arrests, they were actually giving out $1,000 rewards for "taking a gun off the street." Why would anyone be surprised that you'd then have cops planting guns on hopeless saps who they knew don't stand a chance in the criminal justice system?

In any case, you asked for your links. ... I went right for the story I read LAST WEEK. Is it a "broad" problem? Probably more broad than you think. Too broad for the innocent person who gets railroaded.

And again, just one instance -- and how many don't get caught -- 99 percent of them? -- is way too much. The presumption should NOT be in favor of the police. We live in a free society. If the police are denying anyone of their freedom, we should really be reexamining the authority of the police.

Still wondering about my original question. ... Where is Bratton's editorial about cops acting as if they are above the law? Because it's the thing people usually have a problem with, with regard to the police.