The endgame for much of academia and for “progressives” is to eliminate proactive policing in minority neighborhoods. These critics remain wedded to the idea that crime can be lowered only by solving its alleged root causes: racism and poverty. Kelling asserted the opposite: that constitutional, responsive policing is the best hope that law-abiding residents of high crime areas have to live free from fear, a right that people in safer neighborhoods take for granted. Portraying the police as a force for evil is one of the most destructive consequences of the 1960s revolt against traditional authority. George Kelling’s empirically based wisdom revived the understanding that protecting public order is an essential and humane function of government—and that the viability of cities rests on respect for the law.Mr. Kelling probably wouldn't have thought much of the "expressing pain in a bodied way" approach.
RIP Mr. Kelling
A founder of the "Broken Windows" approach to police work has died.
This raises an opportunity to discuss how the upcoming federal election campaigns should be focused. Let's NOT dwell on the personality or background of candidates, nor even their stated goals. But what policy prescriptions do they recommend?
ReplyDeleteThe already-almost-forgotten Black Lives Matter movement offered 10 points of improvement, the FIRST of which opposes "Broken Windows" policing. The BLM list is a surprisingly reasonable starting point for issue discussions. Would a candidate support point ten, Re-negotiating police union contracts and pensions -- to change the composition of existing organizations? Should there be a federal level "internal affairs" squad (point 4) to independently and routinely evaluate all police shootings to determine if local doctrine and training was followed? If a candidate suggests such changes should be developed at the state level, can we agree that does NOT mean he, she, or the party opposes such policies?
Everybody in the race can be presumed to be more or less honest, patriotic, and in favor of "truth, justice, and the American Way". But many are in fact idiots and if not personally idiotic, are mouthpieces of idiotic policy notions. Setting aside the personalities, though, might allow some clarity to develop about not just policing, but taxation, regulation, immigration, and the proper scope of the various levels of governance.
The root cause is Demoncrat plantation slavery. Always has been.
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