So.
Who wants the rant about ābroken windowsā?
Thereās a thing called ābroken windows policingā which is the cops cracking down on minor crimes and generally shaking down a neighborhood. The point of it is to prevent bigger crimes etc.
It is actually a horrible misunderstanding of whatās actually happening and incredibly counterproductive.
āBroken windowsā theory has to do with criminals feeling bolder in areas that donāt look cared for. The ACTUAL problem is that predators look for easy prey, and criminals look for easy targets. Broken windows are a symptom of an area with absentee landlords, and an area with no one looking out for the residents. The people who live there are probably too busy or wrapped up in merely surviving to care of somebody is stealing a bike, or breaking into someplace. Itās a poverty of money, time, and also attention.
Adding cops to stop and frisk isnāt helping anyone. That isnāt what the neighborhood NEEDS.
It needs the goddamn windows fixed. It needs people who live there to have enough time and attention to help their neighbors. It needs the buildings to be locally owned with people living there who are keeping up the maintenance!
Predators look for easy prey and thieves want an easy job. A neighbor watching from their porch means fewer porch pirates. Parents and aunties looking out their kitchen windows at the kidās playground mean the parents and older siblings there have backup if something happens. Neighborhoods that look cared for and have more residents around with time and attention to spare are safer.
THIS is what the broken windows theory is actually about. Itās not cops. Itās networks of neighbors caring for each other. It happens more easily when people have resources and time, so poverty makes an area vulnerable.
But, middle class suburban areas can be vulnerable too. If thereās no one home, if people donāt know each other, if they spend all their time on the freeway commuting or at work or elsewhere, then the area becomes an easy target. Which is why all the houses have Ring doorbells and video cameras.
The way to make a neighborhood safer is to build connections, care for one another, and lift each other up. The broken windows are a symptom of a larger care gap. The care and connections are what is missing and adding care and connections will make the area more resilient and safer over time.
