Trent Ruble's Blog: The Other Way It Is - Posts Tagged "rudy-giuliani"

Compared to the largest of American cities, the Indiana city of 17,000 from which I retired as a police detective is quite small. And, even though the police department wasn't and isn't exactly where it should be, we understood customer service. Our officers responded to every call for service and accommodated the victims and other complainants in whatever way was appropriate. However, in some other, usually larger, American cities, this service is missing.

The police administrations and prosecutors in those large cities will tell you, as they've told me, that they don't have the resources to respond to minor calls for service or prosecute minor crimes. Nonetheless, the calls are for service and require a response. The broken laws, especially those which involve personal safety and the protection of property, have been made laws by the leaders we elected. They are important to the people and must be enforced. The necessary resources must somehow be made available. Otherwise we will slide into third world status. We never intended that someone other than the lawmakers we elected make the determination of enforcement. It's a quality of life issue. (Note - This idea should never preclude an officer's discretion as the officers are the ones at the crime scenes and the ones who must testify if necessary.)

Rudy Giuliani

Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City and one-time United States presidential candidate, adhered to social scientists James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling's theory about minor crimes known as the "Broken Windows Theory." In this theory, major crimes are reduced in frequency due to the attention given minor crimes. In other words, addressing minor crimes changes the environment to one in which major crimes do not flourish. The theory was put into place by Mayor Giuliani in 1993 and was followed by a sudden and dramatic drop in overall crime (Carrots, Sticks, and Broken Windows by Corman and Mocan). It seems that the same people committing misdemeanors were the ones committing felonies. Therefore, when the misdemeanants were temporarily removed from the street, so were the felons. I personally observed the difference the theory made in New York in 2000 when I visited with my family. I had been to the city in 1976 and had noticed its run-down appearance and dangerous feeling of lawlessness. However, upon my return in 2000, the feeling of the city was quite different. The streets where I'd seen prostitutes and strip clubs were now homes to legitimate businesses. Even the people seemed friendlier. However, in spite of the success of the Broken Windows Theory in New York City, many cities have yet to adopt it.

In cities where a personal police response is determined by the severity of the crime, misdemeanor reports are frequently taken over the telephone. My wife's purse was stolen in one of these cities and an officer never made an appearance at the scene, even though she could have given the officer the description of the perpetrator and his direction of travel. In my 26 years of police work, I've found that much can be learned from a simple visit to the scene of a crime, even a minor crime. For example, many times a witness can be found who can provide valuable information, or evidence can be found that might steer the investigation in the right direction.

As a citizen, I am requesting that all crimes be investigated and those that are forwarded for prosecution be prosecuted. And, obviously, these crime scenes can't be investigated by telephone, but by the personal appearance of a police officer. Give the people, who are the employers of the government, what they want and expect. And, especially for the attention of state police departments; don't allow revenue to influence which offenses are enforced. We don't like that.