NCJ Number
89409
Date Published
1983
Length
42 pages
Annotation
As San Jose, Calif., grew from a small agricultural city into a large metropolitan area, crime rose from a low level of concern to a major political issue, but the governmental response focused increasingly on law enforcement manpower, equipment, and administration rather than underlying causes of crime.
Abstract
San Jose was known as a mild machine-governed town until 1944 when the Progress Committee's candidates swept into office, initiating an era of physical expansion and economic development. City government and local developer and business interests enjoyed close relations between 1944 and 1969, a period of tremendous growth. Crime was not a major issue, and the police department emphasized training, specialization, and professionalization. Community relations with minorities, particularly Hispanics, were relatively good until 1965 when latent conflicts began to emerge. The period between 1969 and 1975 was a watershed in San Jose politics, when the city manager and police chief retired and media politics and controlled-growth candidacies assumed greater importance. Crime still did not become a major concern, and any problems were attributed to police service levels and staffing ratios. Faced with conflicting demands for lower taxes and more police services, San Jose relied more on State and Federal monies to expand law enforcement activities. The mayor's office favored increased minority hiring, but met substantial resistance from within the police department. The police shooting of John Henry Smith, an unarmed black IBM employee, outside his apartment in 1971 resulted in outraged community protests and subsequent changes in police procedures regarding the use of deadly force which the police union opposed. During the 1970's, San Jose received many LEAA grants, CETA grants, and revenue sharing monies for police programs. Between 1976 and 1978, the city's response to crime became a major political issue and reflected increasing fragmentation in local politics. Police-community conflicts had increased, the city fired its police chief, relations between the new chief and the union became hostile, and electors defeated incumbent judges for the first time. The paper includes 3 footnotes and approximately 100 references.