Better Policing Won't Solve High Rates of Black Crime

In the wake of Ferguson, President Obama has called for better education for the police so they can find their softer side when dealing with the black community.  But, at no time is this President willing to admit that we have a serious problem with black crime in this country that results in too many confrontations with the police.

Currently, blacks make up 13.1% of the population.  Yet, 37.4% of the prison population is black.  Meaning that they are nearly 3 times more likely to have to deal with the police. In defense of the high black prison population, many point to the fact that they are being disproportionately arrested for holding, using, or selling drugs.  However, this flies in the face of FBI statistics that show blacks commit 51% of all murders, 69% of all robberies, and 32% of all crimes, while only committing 23.5% of all drug violations.  Obviously, drug arrests are disproportionately lower when compared to other black crime rates.

In 1991, a Lehigh University study found that 70% of prison inmates came from single-parent (broken) homes.  It's not surprising then, that the black prison population is so high. Blacks had a single-parent percentage of 67% in 2013.  That's double the all-race average of 35% in that same year.  Also, that same Lehigh study found that 80% of all inmates were in some way learning disabled; including 50% of all minorities who were functionally illiterate.  Obviously, there is a direct correlation between low rates of education, low literacy rates, and high rates of crime.  In 2009, President Obama's own Department of Education found that 50% of 4th grade African Americans were illiterate, and by the 9th grade things worsened with 56% being illiterate.

As the first black President, Barack Obama was in the unique position to focus in on black literacy and family unit problems as a means of reducing black crime.  Because, if crime rates among blacks more closely matched their population levels, police confrontations with blacks would be significantly fewer.  Instead, Obama constantly focuses on cops as the problem.  We had a sense of this in July of 2009, when a friend of his, a black Harvard professor, was arrested by two Cambridge, Mass police for breaking into his own home.  He wasn't arrested for the break in but instead, for his belligerence at the scene.  Yet, the President attacked the actions of the white police by saying they "acted stupidly". 

Simply, every problem is a result of some cause.  If you want to improve policing in black communities, lower the crime rates.  In doing so, attitudes by cops towards blacks would also improve and blacks would be targeted less for arrests.

References:

Obama Calls for Changes in Policing After Task Force Report: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/03/us/politics/obama-calls-for-changes-in-policing-after-task-force-report.html

Federal Bureau of Prisons: Inmate Statistics: http://www.bop.gov/about/statistics/statistics_inmate_race.jsp

FBI: Crime Statistics by Race: http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/crime-in-the-u.s/2012/crime-in-the-u.s.-2012/tables/43tabledatadecoverviewpdf

70% Of Criminals Are From Broken Homes, Expert Says: http://articles.mcall.com/1991-11-15/news/2826825_1_inmates-psychology-professor-raymond-bell

Children in single-parent families by race: http://datacenter.kidscount.org/data/tables/107-children-in-single-parent-families-by#detailed/1/any/false/36,868,867,133,38/10,168,9,12,1,13,185/432,431

The Drug War And Mass Incarceration By The Numbers: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/08/drug-war-mass-incarceration_n_3034310.html

What’s up with African American literacy rates?: http://ourweekly.com/news/2013/oct/03/whats-african-american-literacy-rates/

Obama: Police who arrested professor 'acted stupidly' - CNN: http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/07/22/harvard.gates.interview/

Henry Louis Gates arrest controversy: Go to:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Louis_Gates_arrest_controversy Police report and 9-1-1 dispatcher recordings:

Why "Broken Windows Policing" and "Stop and Frisk" Are Successful

In the wake of the death of small-time offender Eric Garner at the hands of the police,  -- black leadership and many, mostly on the political left  -- have questioned New York City's policy of "Broken Windows Policing" that had been established by Mayor Rudy Giuliani and his Police Commissioner Bill Bratton (now the current Police Commissioner under Mayor De Blasio) in 1990.  Simply, Broken Windows Policing is a policy of zero tolerance of low level crimes in the belief that small crimes lead to bigger ones if not addressed.

As a part of this overall program, something called "Stop, Question, and Frisk" was developed, whereby suspicious people -- either on foot or in cars -- would be stopped and questioned as to why they may be loitering or driving around in high crime areas; usually at late hours of the night.  If the answers seemed suspicious, the person or persons were then frisked; sometimes yielding illegal drugs, weapons, or stolen property.

The opponents of "Broken Windows Policing" -- and, especially "Stop and Frisk" -- complain that the program primarily targets high crime areas and, as such, unfairly targets minorities; especially blacks.  They also point to the fact that in 2011, nearly 686,000 stops saw 88% of them yielded no convictions of any kind.  This is why Bill De Blasio ran against the program in his mayoral campaign. 

However, that 88% statistic ignores the fact that 12% did yield arrests and convictions.  Simply, 12% of 686,000 stops, represents 82,000 criminal actors being taken off the streets of New York.  Thus, crime was avoided and, more importantly, murders may have be prevented; especially, in high-crime, minority areas of the city.  Also think about this.  Would you prefer that we stop TSA screenings at airports just because there is such a low rate of catching any terrorists attempting to board our airplanes?

New York City has done a more than excellent job in reducing crime.  The best of any major city in the U.S.

Since 1990 -- when the program was implemented -- crime in New York City is down 79%.  Murder is down 85%; and burglary 86%; and mostly in minority neighborhoods. Times Square, which had turned into a broken down sleazy area, is again a shining star.

Those who complain about "Broken Windows Policing" are either uninformed or biased, racial activists.  New York's reduction in crime has benefited all; especially those in once high-crime, minority neighborhoods.

References:

Opinion: ‘Broken windows,’ broken policy: http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2014/12/29/broken-windows-broken-policy/WM8hUySUL0YerJq2S2Ay1N/story.html

Stop-and-frisk in New York City: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop-and-frisk_in_New_York_City

Bill De Blasio Stop and Frisk - Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/bill-de-blasio-stop-and-frisk/

New York City Crime Statistics Since 1990: http://www.nyc.gov/html/nypd/downloads/pdf/crime_statistics/cscity.pdf

William J. Bratton and George L. Kelling: Why We Need Broken Windows Policing: http://www.city-journal.org/2015/25_1_broken-windows-policing.html

Serener streets: http://www.economist.com/node/14327168