NCJ Number
196878
Journal
Governing Volume: 15 Issue: 9 Dated: June 2002 Pages: 20-25
Editor(s)
John Martin
Date Published
June 2002
Length
6 pages
Annotation
This article discribes how the cities of Boston and New York both experienced a big drop in homicides during the past decade while using radically different policing strategies.
Abstract
Between 1990 and 1999 Boston's homicide rate fell by 80 percent, as its crime prevention program, based on an unusual collaboration between law enforcement agencies, social service organizations, and local churches took effect. New York City also experienced a dramatic decline in homicides, as it implemented its broken windows philosophy of policing. Boston's program was built on cooperation between police and parole officers, community leaders, streetworkers, academics, and ministers. New York's program emphasized quality of life law enforcement, focusing on minor property and nuisance offenses as a key to serious crimes, and also used a high-tech mapping and accountability system to track police performance. However, in the past 2 years Boston's homicide rate has increased by more than 100 percent while at the same time New York's rate has continued to fall. While Boston and Federal agents were using "focused deterrence," identifying who was doing the shooting, calling them all in and putting them all on probation, using all the levers of re-education and partnerships, New York was stressing relentless follow-up and assessment via use of Compstat a high-tech mapping and accountability system to track police performance. In New York City, police commanders who could not show sufficient familiarity with crime trends in their patrol boroughs, and/or failed to solve the problems were identified and reassigned or demoted. During the same period of time, the crime rates in both cities dropped dramatically. Some theories of explanation are that New York's emphasis on follow up was making the difference, whereas Boston had tended to de-emphasize follow up. Boston's increasing population of tough young people and the release of older prisoners back into the community in Boston are considered possible contributing factors to that city's crime rise. Boston is implementing its Boston Strategy Part 2, redoubling the department emphasis on prevention, enforcement, and intervention, and still relying on partnerships as a central strategy component. NYPD considers the partnership idea to be critical also, but its emphasis remains on its successful strategies of using Compstat and focusing on quality of life.