The Broken Window Theory as a Background of Crime Mapping

Crime mapping is an essential part of the crime analysis process in the law enforcement community. Maps on the wall have been a useful way to show criminal activity, hot spots and trends. Many departments still utilize pin maps in their respected agencies do to funding. Many agencies are going away from the old ways of pins; do to the advancement of technology. Crime maps provide pictures, locations and information about areas that crimes are being committed. Crime maps help visualize and analyze data to help address the crime trends in particular sections of the city.

The Compstat management system provided record-breaking results regarding a decline in crime in New York City. It was a development that equipped police officers timely and accurate intelligence. But the system had it critics because of the falsification of crime data that was provided by upper management of the New York Police Department. The aggressiveness of policing and Compstat established the stop, question and frisk. That new policy affected mostly African Americans and minorities.

Compstat implemented the Broken Windows theory. The Broken Windows theory was based on minor violations that would lead to more significant crimes in the community. Ignoring these minor crimes led to quality-of-life issues and disorders. NYPD deployed thousands of new cops to address the crime rate.

According to the Intelligencer: “The murders went from 1,946 in 1993 to 673 in 2000; car thefts went from 111,611 to 35,422; rapes dropped from 2,813 to 2,068. Misdemeanor arrests, particularly for drugs, rose sharply and, plunged for a few years, and then jumped again in the 2000s, from about 60,000 to 80,000 annually”. 39% of major crimes decreased tremendously. Minor arrest offences did contribute to the drop in crime. The crime statistics were always compared from previous years. It became a competition because command staff wanted lower stats than the previous years.

The trust and pressure of commanders to keep the crime data low in Compstat resulted in misclassification of offences. The Compstat mentality impacted the relationship between the police and communities. The numbers of field contacts between officers and the community exploded significantly. It led to the abuse of police practices in sections of the city where most of the African American and minority groups resided.

It led to lying about crime statistics in specific communities by police commanders and officers. This problem did not just occur in New York City. It happened throughout the United States were Compstat was being used. The complaints by the community were excessive because of aggressive policing tactics and over policing to falsify crime stats. Some scholars and community leaders said, “Police departments need to drop the numbers game and focus on solutions for the problem at hand”.

The community was outraged by the high percentage of blacks and Latino affected which was around 85 percent. Command staff would say this had nothing to do with race. Many of the statistics of the stops went unreported. Field interview stops required a form to be completed, which provided a higher number of stops that were never put in perspective. According to the federal court judge in 2013, which ruled that the stop-and-frisk program must be stopped. It was considered unconstitutional which it was for its indirect racial profiling.

The police department focus turned to gangs and violence. The department went towards predictive policing, which was implemented by the Los Angeles Police Department. Compstat advanced with the use of algorithms. Command staff was able to view crime and large visual maps and data. It provided quick solutions for officers to respond to specific areas where a crime was likely to occur. 

The concern of policing on the idea of crimes is that sometimes the social dynamics of particular neighborhoods cannot be decided with arrests, summons or tickets. Police need to identify the problem and work with other agencies and the community to address the situation at hand. The ongoing crime acts could be the cause of the lack of youth programs. To fix the community police relationships, we must make change practical to Compstat. Managerial accountability and getting the department to admit that there is an issue is going to be the biggest challenge.

References

• Bryan R. Smith/The New York Times/Redux. “The Crime-Fighting Program That Changed New York Forever.” Intelligencer, 2 Mar. 2018, nymag.com/intelligencer/2018/03/the-crime-fighting-program-that-changed-new-york-forever.html.
• “Compstat 360 - Enhancing a Powerful Tool by Integrating Community Policing to Build Trust and Legitimacy While Reducing Crime.” National Police Foundation, www.policefoundation.org/Compstat.
• “Compstat in Practice: An In-Depth Analysis of Three Cities.” National Police Foundation, www.policefoundation.org/publication/compstat-in-practice-an-in-depth-analysis-of-three-cities/.
• “Connecting the Dots - Crime-Mapping Technology.” PoliceOne, 28 Apr. 2004, www.policeone.com/police-products/investigation/articles/85479-Connecting-the-dots-Crime-mapping-technology/.
• “Crime Analysis with Crime Mapping.” SAGE Publications Inc, 15 Mar. 2019, us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/crime-analysis-with-crime-mapping/book244023.
• “Start Your Search by Using Either Method Below.” CrimeMapping.com - Helping You Build a Safer Community, www.crimemapping.com/.
• “The Growth of Compstat in American Policing.” National Police Foundation, www.policefoundation.org/publication/the-growth-of-compstat-in-american-policing/.