The Broken Windows Theory seemed promising when it was first proposed. Focus some attention on the smaller crimes, such as graffiti, loitering, panhandling, and the chances of larger crimes being committed would drop, thus preventing the neighborhood from becoming “bad.” It stood the test of time over years of implementation and had real, albeit negative, effects. People living in the neighborhoods felt safer. However, this targeting of smaller crimes soon became targeting the poor and the minorities.
It is no question that the broken windows policing at the moment is discriminatory and should definitely be reformed. The implementation of quotas, and the discriminatory targeting is proof of a broken system of broken trust between the authority and the public. African American men should not die for selling loosies, or for just “looking suspicious.” Targeting the smaller crimes is now targeting the smaller symptoms of an issue, rather than the actual root of the problem.
Until more resources are available for those living in poverty, who are forced to steal, to panhandle, and to sleep on public benches, until this system of setting quotas is resolved and mutual respect is built, broken windows policing will remain broken trust policing.
-Jennifer Chang
