Broken Window's solution put to test in Denver

[OurTulsa]

One of Taylor's solution for crime was the Broken Window's program.  It is being put to test in Denver.  Here is the article to learn more.

Denver to lessen tolerance for crime
Broken windows policing to be tried in 2 neighborhoods

| Print By Lou Kilzer, Rocky Mountain News
February 28, 2006
Denver is jump-starting an aggressive test of a famed criminologist's crime-fighting theories in a step that could fundamentally change the way police in the city operate.
Both the Westwood and Capitol Hill neighborhoods will get a taste of George Kelling's "broken windows" policing, a combination of community-based enforcement and a low tolerance for even minor criminal behavior.

The quick action is part of a six-month project by Kelling's Hanover Justice Group, which promises to be short on written reports and long on specific street-level initiatives for Denver.

"We don't deal much in reports," Kelling said.

Most aspects of the Westwood project, which began over the weekend, could be up and running quickly, Kelling said Monday. Officers will concentrate on gathering real-time crime data, focusing on where crime is occurring and the career criminals behind much of it.

Citizens should expect to see more officers doing more than just answering 911 calls, said Hanover consultant Mike Wagers.

Officers will also target graffiti removal, bulk garbage pickup and even street lighting, the city says. Community groups will be enlisted into the effort.

The Capitol Hill project begins this week and will take longer to get ironed out, according to Hanover.

Denver also announced Monday that Kelling will be working to improve department access to statistics to help officers marshal resources to target crime.

Beginning in March, district commanders will meet weekly with the chief and his top staff to pore over statistics and find strategies to combat crime trends, according to the mayor's office.

Kelling, will be in town Wednesday to help launch the initiatives. He plans to talk with officers, the media, council members, prosecutors and others about the initiatives.

One person apparently left off the agenda is City Council Safety Committee Chairwoman Jeanne Faatz, who said Monday morning that she didn't know of Kelling's plans.

Faatz sounded a note of caution.

She said that in her conversations with Hanover Justice Group personnel they seemed to emphasize that "people are asking too much of the police . . . they (Hanover employees) stress the need to re-educate people as to when police should be coming" in response to calls.

"I'm not sure you solve the problem by convincing people they don't have a problem," Faatz said.

Faatz led an effort to hire more officers after reports last year that Denver crime had climbed since 1997, while arrests were sharply declining.

Arrests reversed course last year, rising 2.5 percent.

Mayor John Hickenlooper hired Kelling to review the Denver situation after the reports of declining arrests.

Kelling said Monday that perceptions are important, and can create fertile ground for more serious crime.

"Perceptions are real," he said, though, in comparison with crime in other cities, "Denver is doing quite well."

Wagers, the Hanover consultant, said Denver "is not under a crisis" like certain areas of Los Angeles. But he said it was time to identify problem areas so that Denver will never have that level of disorder.

It is imperative, however, that crime not be seen as only a police issue, Wagers said.

Kelling agreed.

"Crime is not a problem that one agency can own," he said Monday.

Kelling has earned an almost incandescent reputation after broken windows policing was credited with helping lower crime rates in several cities, including New York.

Kelling has also advocated more decentralized policing, giving precinct officers far greater power to make decisions than in a traditional headquarters-based, top-down department.

The new approach will allow "district and other command staff to prioritize neighborhood problems and solve them creatively," said a city news release.

Kelling's hard-nosed approach has sometimes ruffled feathers, particularly among some civil libertarians who have argued that the broken windows approach often targets the underprivileged.

Westwood, in district No. 4, was selected because it has a "disproportionate share of crime, has strong and diverse community partnerships supportive of broken windows policing, and is wholly self-contained within one police precinct," according to the mayor's office.

The southwest Denver neighborhood "has a particularly high number of disorder offenses, such as criminal mischief and drug crimes," traditional targets of broken windows policing.

Westwood has approximately 15,000 people, with 6,000 under 18 years old.

By contrast, Capitol Hill has some 24,400 residents. The area has "unique crime and disorder problems . . . (that) are not easily susceptible to traditional enforcement," said the city press release.

The exact outlines of the Capitol Hill area that will see the demonstration project are being worked out, Wagers said.

kilzerl@RockyMountainNews.com or (303) 892-2644