Feature: MSU Leads the National Fight Against Crime and Its Causes
In one of his last writings, a former distinguished criminal justice expert explains why MSU is at the forefront of community policing as a solution to crime and its causes. To say that the United States has a major crime problem would be an understatement.
Violence, especially random violence, has increased in all areas of the country, urban, suburban and rural. Increasingly, the violence is more heinous and committed by ever increasingly younger persons, sometimes even pre- teens. They are often both the predators and the preyed upon. The symptoms of violent crime change but results are often the same: death--a tourist in Miami, an ATM user in Detroit, a person randomly targeted for a carjacking in Boston, a patron entering a quick-stop store caught in the crossfire of a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles or a subway rider gunned down in New York. Is this hopeless or can something be done?
One solution, with MSU leading the nation, attacks the root causes and it works. A majority of major police departments have adopted, or are in the process of buying into the MSU solution. The symptoms of violent crime may change but the profiles of the perpetrators do not--a young male between the ages of 16 and 25, with a history of violence, and numerous contacts with the juvenile and criminal justice systems. This person has most likely been the recipient of abuse which started at an early age and has few educational and employment skills. Their role models are also violent and these young people have viewed the inconsistencies between what adults preach but do not necessarily practice. They are told not to use drugs but adults wink at excessive use of alcohol. They are told to just 'say no' to sex but many adults accept as normal other adults who live together without a long-term commitment. Young people are admonished not to break traffic laws but adults shrewdly camouflage their fuzzbusters. Adults tell young people that violence is destructive and deplorable but they covet their handguns and support through TV and VCR viewing violence and sexual exploitation. So much for appropriate role modeling.
We cannot continue to wring our hands and search for reasons why young people are increasingly turning to violence as the preferred method for problem solving. We know the answers. The youth are often emulating their adult role models' values, beliefs and behavior. They are reacting to the mixed messages that are being sent to them. Knowing the causes does not automatically solve the problem and locking up more people is only a temporary solution. Preventing the problem from happening in the first place is far more effective. When police officers are perceived as aloof, and citizens are viewed as apathetic, and when a close partnership between the two groups does not exist, then the conditions are right for predators to exploit -- divide and conquer.
When threatened we often retreat and revert to individual self-protective solutions, such as better locks, bigger guns, more ferocious dogs, and higher fences. The reality is however, that we have to leave our homes (fortresses) sometime to work and recreate. The long-term solution is not individualized isolation and anonymity, but the need to work together to solve problems. In the past, informal social control was facilitated because citizens depended on each other to identify and solve problems. Social control is most effective at the individual level because personal conscience can keep people from crossing the line to deviancy even when no one is looking.
The family, the most important unit affecting social control, is obviously instrumental in the initial formation of the conscience and continued reinforcement of the values that encourage law abiding behavior. The extended family especially if they are in close geographic proximity, and neighbors are also important in supporting the norms of positive behavior. Unfortunately, because of reduction of influence exerted by neighbors, extended family and even the family, social control is now often more dependent on formal control -- the criminal justice system.
TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGES
Three major technological changes -- mass transportation, mass communication, and mass media -- have played a great role in the disruption of relationships between individuals, families, and neighbors. In the model of the past, the overlap between a community of interest and a geographic community blurred the distinction between the two.
For example, when a crisis occurred -- perhaps a farmer's barn burned, neighbors linked by the common geography and a community of interest pitched in to help the farmer build a new barn. While altruism may well have played a role, the underlying reality also operating was the neighbors cooperated because the farmer who lent a hand today knew he might well need a helping hand tomorrow.
Such instances are often not the case today with our disjointed communities. The effects of mass transportation and mass communication have obviously contributed to the breakdown of the geographic connection and the traditional definition of community. However, scant attention has been paid to the role the mass media plays. Instead of defining ourselves by the neighborhood communities where we live, we are likely to label ourselves in terms invented and reinforced by the mass media: baby boomers, born-again Christians, feminists, yuppies, and so on.
For many in today's society, we are what we do; we define ourselves primarily in terms of career. Those who find less satisfaction in their work might define themselves by their leisure activities--as joggers, golfers, and travelers. Others see themselves in more political terms: pro-choicers, pro-lifers, tax- protesters, peace-activists. Their behavior often adheres to the norms established within those subgroups rather than in their traditional primary social group.
The rise of these technological changes that have altered the definition of community have also ushered in an explosion in the rates of serious crime. These same forces that have fragmented traditional communities have played a crucial role in eroding informal social control. That all-important sense of community (which could well be the most important weapon in fighting crime) has often been lost, and even strong formal social control (the criminal justice system) can never be an effective substitute.
By getting back to the basics and by stimulating communication between the police and neighborhoods, the process that allows residents to rebuild that traditional sense of pride in community life can begin. Increasingly, citizens are more willing to coalesce not only to identify and talk about the problem, but to do something about it.
An emphasis on a community of interest allows police officers an entree into the geographic community. Then the officer and the residents can develop structures and tactics designed to improve the overall quality of life, allowing a renewed community spirit to build and flourish which can be the catalyst not only to deal with crime and violence but to prevent it from happening in the first place.
COMMUNITY POLICING
There is a new policing approach which is sweeping the country. It involves a partnership between the formal social control system, the police, and the informal system, the people. It is called community policing. Community policing is a philosophy of full-service, personalized policing where the same officer patrols and works in the same area on a long-term basis from a decentralized office, working in a proactive partnership with citizens to identify and solve problems.