Post by crimedawg on Feb 16, 2008 10:32:08 GMT -5
Article on the homepage of CNN.com today-
"Newark, NJ goes 33 days without a murder."
www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/02/15/no.homicides.ap/index.html
Apparently, according to the article turning the screws on petty criminals was a primary driver. From the article:
"McCarthy attributes the drop in homicides to a broader strategy to fighting crime that includes prosecuting petty crimes, like loitering and public drunkenness, as well as more serious ones."
I have innumerably witnessed people commit far worse crimes only to have them thrown back on the streets the same day or next.
What would it take to get leadership in Charlotte to begin doing that? For the past year, I have done a lot of reading up on the "Broken Windows" Theory first published in 1982 in Atlantic Monthly. This was the crime-fighting tactic applied by Giuliani when he was heading up NYC. Bernie Kerik strong enforced this as head of NYPD.
Of course, having more CMPD officers on the street would help us here (Newark has more PO's than Charlotte, and less than half the population!) But what about actually PROSECUTING these people who commit crimes like:
car theft? assault on a govt official? larceny from auto? DV-Assault?
I know that there is no interest in spending a single dollar on prosecuting some 18-yo teenager for stealing from a parking meter (though I believe they SHOULD BE, don't get me wrong!) But what about some of the more serious felonies we see on the rap sheets of nearly every murderer in the Queen City?
How can we, as regular citizens, demand more be done in the arrest and prosecution of petty criminals, before they play shoot 'em up down at the local convenience store?
"Newark, NJ goes 33 days without a murder."
www.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/02/15/no.homicides.ap/index.html
Apparently, according to the article turning the screws on petty criminals was a primary driver. From the article:
"McCarthy attributes the drop in homicides to a broader strategy to fighting crime that includes prosecuting petty crimes, like loitering and public drunkenness, as well as more serious ones."
I have innumerably witnessed people commit far worse crimes only to have them thrown back on the streets the same day or next.
What would it take to get leadership in Charlotte to begin doing that? For the past year, I have done a lot of reading up on the "Broken Windows" Theory first published in 1982 in Atlantic Monthly. This was the crime-fighting tactic applied by Giuliani when he was heading up NYC. Bernie Kerik strong enforced this as head of NYPD.
Of course, having more CMPD officers on the street would help us here (Newark has more PO's than Charlotte, and less than half the population!) But what about actually PROSECUTING these people who commit crimes like:
car theft? assault on a govt official? larceny from auto? DV-Assault?
I know that there is no interest in spending a single dollar on prosecuting some 18-yo teenager for stealing from a parking meter (though I believe they SHOULD BE, don't get me wrong!) But what about some of the more serious felonies we see on the rap sheets of nearly every murderer in the Queen City?
How can we, as regular citizens, demand more be done in the arrest and prosecution of petty criminals, before they play shoot 'em up down at the local convenience store?