by

Highlights

Has the dramatic decrease in arrests for lower-level crimes led to the twenty-eight percent national increase in violent crimes?

Will cops ever return to aggressing, self-initiated, proactive policing? Do we want them to?

Author

Leonard Adam Sipes, Jr.

Retired federal senior spokesperson. Thirty-five years of award-winning public relations for national and state criminal justice agencies. Interviewed multiple times by every national news outlet. Former Senior Specialist for Crime Prevention for the Department of Justice’s clearinghouse. Former Director of Information Services, National Crime Prevention Council. Former Adjunct Associate Professor of criminology and public affairs-University of Maryland, University College. Former advisor to presidential and gubernatorial campaigns. Former advisor to the “McGruff-Take a Bite Out of Crime” national media campaign. Certificate of Advanced Study-Johns Hopkins University. Aspiring drummer.

Article

There are many observers of crime policies who saw this coming. We’ve noted that arrests have been declining across the board for several years, Declining Arrests.

There are endless issues to consider including the debate over lower-level arrests and the impact they have on violent crime. In my decades of reviewing case files of offenders who committed violent acts including homicides, they routinely had an array of lower-level arrests.

Many of the arrests that caused police use of force controversies were not felonies. Law enforcement has received a considerable amount of bad publicity through these “lower-level” events. It’s changed policing.

Police agencies are struggling for recruits and efforts to retain existing employees are failing, Police Recruitment. Data supports the notion that cops are less willing to engage in self-initiated, proactive policing, Angry Cops.

Rising Crime

The US Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics states that there is a twenty-eight percent increase in overall violent crime in recent years, Crime in America.

Crimes reported to law enforcement decreased by three percent per the FBI. The percentage of crimes reported to law enforcement has fallen considerably, Crime Reporting.

Cities throughout the country are suffering through increased crime that threatens to redefine their prosperity and citizen safety, Most Dangerous Cities.

The Data

The Wall Street Journal offered, “Arrests for Low-Level Crimes Are Plummeting, and the Experts Are Flummoxed.” Key points are summarized below.

From MSN News: (direct quotes-rearranged)

New statistical studies show a deep, yearslong decline in misdemeanor cases across New York and California and in cities throughout other regions, with arrests of young black men falling dramatically.

New York City’s misdemeanor arrest totals have fallen by half since peaking in 2010, with rates of black arrests sinking to their lowest point since 1990. The arrest rate for black men in St. Louis fell by 80% from 2005 to 2017, a period that saw steep declines in simple assault and drug-related offenses. In Durham, N.C., arrest rates for blacks fell by nearly 50% between 2006 and 2016.

Other studies revealed similar patterns. A December report by the Public Policy Institute of California found that misdemeanor rates in California declined by close to 60% between 1989 and 2016.

Los Angeles police made 112,570 misdemeanor arrests in 2008 and 60,063 by 2017, largely driven by declines in driving and alcohol-related offenses, according to John Jay’s research network.

A forthcoming paper by law professors at George Mason University and the University of Georgia also found sizable arrest declines in rural Virginia, San Antonio and other jurisdictions.

Other indications include shrinking caseloads reported by the National Center for State Courts and arrest tallies by the Federal Bureau of Investigation showing steady declines in disorderly conduct, drunkenness, prostitution and loitering violations.

In Durham, the arrest rate for 18- to 20-year-old black men dropped by more than 70% from 2008 to 2016, according to the John Jay’s research collaborative, MSN.

Cops Pulling Back

From the Crime Report (direct quote):

The shrinking misdemeanor totals may be evidence that police are pulling back on sweeping quality-of-life enforcement and focusing instead on “hot spots,” neighborhood strips and streets with clusters of gun violence and gang activity, The Crime Report.

Is Proactive Policing Dead?

There was a time before aggressive, proactive policing became popular when cops did routine patrols and responded to calls for service. The philosophy was that officers should be judicious as to arrests to insure quality criminal cases and to be available for major accidents and crimes in progress.

Crime began to explode in the mid to late 1960s and there were decades of dramatic crime and violence that threatened to destroy cities, economies, jobs, education and a way of life. People left cities by the millions. Society and the media demanded answers.

The Mothers Against Drunk Driving campaign wanted dramatically increased arrests. Family rights advocates wanted more arrests for domestic violence that eventually morphed into arrests for both participants.

Community meetings became shouting matches where residents demanded that cops get rid of open drug users, prostitutes, and troublemakers, and citizens didn’t care how they did it. The media demanded action. They accused cops of not caring.

The justice system responded with a style of aggressive policing where “quality of life” misdemeanors became important. Blight or anything that caused fear was attacked. The result was known as the New York City Miracle resulting in a huge increase in arrests and citations partially designed to legally search people for guns and major drugs. Crime plummeted and people reinvested in neighborhoods. Property values skyrocketed. Crime in New York City remains historically low to this day.

The thought was that if you took care of the little things (i.e., minor crimes, graffiti, cleanliness of subways), the big things would take care of themselves.

Today, there are parts of New York City that are peaceful tourist attractions that were literally considered out of control. Cities throughout the United States rushed to emulate the New York City model and create their own aggressive, proactive policing policies. US Department of Justice research stated that proactive policing worked to reduce crime. Enhanced enforcement increased the prison population dramatically.

Crime entered one of the largest sustained reductions over a twenty-year plus timeframe. Crime declined over seventy percent for some categories, Crime in America.

Criminologicaly, the thought was that law enforcement needed to bring peace to communities so residents could reestablish their own forms of social control. It worked in New York. Results were mixed for other cities.

Boston Increase in Violence (direct quote)

Residents and business owners have complained of users openly shooting up on their front stoops or defecating in their back yards. Users have camped out in historic squares and bathed in fountains. Police reported a 37 percent increase in violent crime over the last year, Boston Globe.

What Happens Now?

The negative publicity regarding police use of force has been relentless, Negative Coverage. It was inevitable that cops were going to pull back. To them, it seemed that everything they did brought harsh criticism.

It was inevitable that law enforcement was going to have a recruitment and retention problem. It was inevitable that police suicides and PTSD and other forms of dysfunctional behavior would surface, Policing.

Cops once saw themselves as protectors. They were the sheepdogs. Now, that persona seems to be over for many. If you take that away, why be a cop?

Officers believe that there is a literal or figurative war on cops. Families are demanding that cops get out of policing, and to get out now.

Violent crime increased by twenty-eight percent per the US Department of Justice. Citizens in numerous cities are begging cops to return to quality of life policing; they are tired of crime and disorder, Bring Back Cops. The list of cities where crime is considered to be a significant problem is large. Fear of crime numbers are high via various surveys, Fear.

Business people are complaining and closing stores. Tourism is greatly impacted. Jobs are lost. Education is impacted by massive shortages of teachers who refuse to teach in dangerous schools. Women are increasingly bothered and abused, City Journal.

Some see the decrease in arrests for lower-level crimes as nothing short of wonderful. To them, fewer people are going to have a criminal history which means increased prosperity for individuals and families.

Many cops obviously want the pullback, Police Contacts. Aggressing policing puts them at risk. There is no such thing as a safe arrest. There are crowds in Baltimore, New York and many cities that surround officers making arrests with taunts and aggression. New York City has just gone through a summer where gallons of questionable liquids were thrown on officers.

Reassessments are coming. There will be many who celebrate a recalibration of gentler policing and fewer arrests. They will suggest that officers can spend their time with community members not as enforcers but as peacemakers.

But with rapidly increasing national and local violent crime, and with crime and disorder becoming major issues in many American cities, society and communities will have to choose what it wants, and none of those choices will come easy or cheaply.

See More

See more articles on crime and justice at Crime in America.

Contact

Contact us at leonardsipes@gmail.com.

My book: A “Best Business Book,” Success With The Media: Everything You Need To Survive Reporters and Your Organization available at Amazon

Amazon

This is an ad-free website.

Reviews are appreciated.

Like this: Like Loading...