Neil Fraser
September 8, 2003
LAST week, took a group from the media around the inner city to view the various projects that are underway, this week a group of businessmen from Holland. Really gratifying to see the physical progress being made but both groups asked questions that forced a fresh appraisal of where we are in the overall revitalisation/regeneration process!
We are doing well in terms of progress of existing projects. We're doing quite well in terms of attracting new projects. And, based on the number of enquiries, we're also doing well in terms of maintaining the high interest levels for possible investment. But there are some aspects that are of major concern.
Topping that list, for me, is the issue of enforcement. Close behind and linked to it, is the whole issue of 'civility' but we'll talk about that in the future.
Enforcement, or the sporadic nature or complete lack thereof, brings us full circle to the role of our Metro Police. That, in turn, leads me to pose the question of what has happened to their promised approach of zero tolerance?
Now, as William Bratton, erstwhile police commissioner of both Boston and New York has written, "to say that 'zero tolerance" policing turned New York around, as if driving away squeegee men and panhandlers could by itself cut the robbery and burglary rates, is a gross oversimplification. To succeed, we had to employ the quality of life strategy in concert with a range of strategies targeting felony crime."
The quality-of-life strategy? Articles that preceded the New York implementation of a "zero tolerance" approach argued that what might appear to be trivial irritations gives the impression that things are falling apart and leads one to feeling vulnerable about greater possible harms.
A typical comment of that time; "If the city doesn't care about one aspect of its citizens' lives it probably doesn't care about others."
In fact, as was later proved, ignoring aggressive begging, lackadaisical refuse collection, public drinking, excessive noise and de facto decriminalised drug selling led directly to soaring crime. "The devil-may-care atmosphere emboldened wrongdoers and a pervasive demoralisation made ordinary New Yorkers anxious, pessimistic, alienated from civic life, slow to go into the city for pleasure, and quick to leave town for good."
Disorder gives the citizens of a city a sense that things are falling apart, that society is doomed, that there is neither order in the universe nor in local government!
George L Kelling and James Q Wilson co-authors of the 1982 article 'Broken Windows', record that during the 25 years prior to 1994, New York City had "depoliced" its streets. He records how the police had removed themselves from contact with the community by becoming "patrol car" encapsulated; "Patrol cars arrive, an occasional arrest occurs but crime continues and disorder is not abated. Citizens complain to the police chief, but he explains that his department is low on personnel and that the courts do not punish petty or first-time offenders. To the residents, the police who arrive in squad cars are either ineffective or uncaring; to the police the residents are animals who deserve each other."
The article goes on to describe how the police also continually passed by disorderly conditions and let them fester. We witness this every day. Daily as I drive to work on the freeway, combi-taxis hurtle past me using the emergency lane.
In the city they constantly run red lights creating incredibly dangerous situations for other drivers and pedestrians. In the suburbs one cannot even draw up at a traffic light in peace without being swamped by the most incredible range of products, pamphlets and pan-handlers' cardboard appeals thrust in one's face.
They may well all be the result of high levels of unemployment and to people trying to earn or beg a buck but the bottom line is that they're all illegal! Yet the vehicle next to one is a Metro police car totally ignoring these illegalities, driving past them daily.
A large amount of the problems being experienced at the new interventions such as Metro Mall are directly due to lack of enforcement. "Why?" traders on the inside of the Mall ask, "should we pay rents when there are hawkers directly on the outside pavements who don't?"
Look across the street and you'll notice Metro police cars occupied by uniformed officers calmly surveying the scene but doing nothing about the fact that there are hawkers plying their trade in clearly demarcated restricted areas.
On a number of occasions I've seen vehicles broken down at intersections creating havoc in traffic whilst Metro police cars whip past looking the other way. Walk down the pavements and listen to the excessively high levels of noise being pumped out, no one does anything about it.
These and many others are quality-of-life infringements but they don't affect the occupants of our smart patrol cars so why bother? There appears to be no will to focus on orderliness!
Stephen Goldsmith, ex-mayor of Indianapolis says: "Disorder serves as a precursor for crime and is linked more closely to crime than other characteristics of the area, including poverty. Muggers and robbers believe they reduce their chances of being caught or even identified if they operate on streets where potential victims are already intimidated by prevailing conditions."
What happened to zero-tolerance? It was by dealing with these minor quality-of-life issues that New York recovered its sense of pride because the authorities 'cared' sufficiently to deal with the small stuff that let the perpetrators of the big stuff know that they were not likely to succeed.
Bratton says: "They (the police) were openly giving freedom of the streets to the drug dealers, the gangs, the prostitutes, the drinkers and the radio blasters. A sense of fear and anarchy pervaded many neighbourhoods. The traditional order-keeping forces, the responsible adults in these communities, played less of a role as their own fear and uncertainty grew. They - along with the wrongdoers - had gotten the message that even the cops didn't care, and they were understandably hesitant to put themselves on the line."
If we are to move from reactive to preventative policing it will be through the visible presence of police on the pavements dealing with and not driving past public disorder. It is through physical presence that people are persuaded to behave because it reduces opportunities for crime to happen. But... do the Metro Police care?
