tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8774131.post8271182345494610537..comments2023-06-24T11:57:48.459-04:00Comments on larrylivermore.com: Why Are Our Black Youth Killing Each Other? The White Guys Made Them Do ItLarry Livermorehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11948659387575597910noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8774131.post-18462173441842780162007-02-19T15:03:00.000-05:002007-02-19T15:03:00.000-05:00Larry Loveage -You're right to identify a rising p...Larry Loveage -<BR/><BR/>You're right to identify a rising problem, but absolutely wrong when pinpointing the cause.<BR/><BR/>I've just blogged on the issue, highlighting where I think the blame lays.<BR/><BR/>Come have a read. And leave comments please - it'll be nice to hear what an outspoken chap like you thinks about it.<BR/><BR/>Robert :)Robert Jackmanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07661074365792040135noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8774131.post-38266808202321639912007-02-18T05:13:00.000-05:002007-02-18T05:13:00.000-05:00Dave, you're right; technically the British govern...Dave, you're right; technically the British government is within its rights to say that overall crime is falling. But wouldn't you say that they're defying the spirit if not the letter of the law if they use this particular bit of information (overall crime rates are falling) to try and convince people that there's nothing to fear, even while the kinds of violent street crime that most concern people are skyrocketing?<BR/><BR/>Again and again we hear government spokesmen and/or the Guardian (prety much the same thing these days) saying "The only problem is people's perceptions. They need to be made aware that crime is falling, and that it's only tabloid scare stories that have the public in a panic." <BR/><BR/>As for the fuzzy-wuzzy PC police, I have no statistical citations to offer you, just anecdotal evidence, like the time a tiny woman police constable tried to remonstrate with an aggressive drunk in Charing Cross Station and had to be rescued by several passersby, myself among them. Or the police decision to stop patrolling many areas because they were too rough, and to instead put up signs advising the public: "Street robberies are occuring in this area. Please safeguard your personal possessions and exercise caution in using your mobile phone."<BR/><BR/>Community policing? Sounds nice, but what is it? And if George Bush is responsible for killing it, how come crime has continued to go down in New York City throughout his presidency, even while it's increased in other American cities?<BR/><BR/>If by community policing, you mean that certain cops are assigned to a certain area, get to know it and its inhabitants, and who the troublemakers are, then great. It's exactly what I would advocate, but I don't see what the federal government has to do with it; it's the kind of thing that works best at local level anyway, and cities have been policing themselves without federal assistance through all but a few decades of our history.<BR/><BR/>If on the other hand "community policing" means some kind of touchy-feely scheme where each neighourhood decides for itself what sort of laws and law enforcement it wants, what do you do about the neighbourhoods where drug dealing or prostitution or mugging have become an integral part of local culture?<BR/><BR/>I know we had a community policing programme in our neighbourhood of London, which sounded good but in essence meant that one cop came around to our building one time to meet with concerned residents and assure us that the local police were in the process of "restructuring priorities" so as to provide us with a "more efficiently ordered process" for reporting crimes, which meant in practice that you had answer so many questions and fill out so many forms in making a complaint that the alleged criminal might have got old and died before the police were actually able to do anything about it.<BR/><BR/>What we needed and never got was a couple of beat cops who regularly strolled down our street and through our building. In no time at all they would have identified and/or frightened off the handful of petty criminals that drastically reduced the quality of life for the vast majority of residents. Instead, emboldened by the near certainty that the cops would never turn up unless someone was stabbed or shot, our petty criminals became steadily less petty, and our neighbourhood became more attractive to muggers and other lowlifes from neighouring precincts. But at least the cops came around and put up signs warning us about it.Larry Livermorehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11948659387575597910noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8774131.post-89119641522035432712007-02-16T12:28:00.000-05:002007-02-16T12:28:00.000-05:00Larry, I don't see any statistical flimflammery in...Larry, I don't see any statistical flimflammery in how London's crime statistics are measured; as a broad overview, crime probably IS falling. Certain kinds of crime can go up even as total crime goes down, and it's hardly commue naivete to recognize that. However, you've still got a point provided that reports that crime is dropping don't remark upon the rise in street crime.<BR/><BR/>And as for PC shock troops' role in increased crime, proof please. People say that about American cities too, but lackluster law enforcement has a lot more to do with slashed community policing funds (for which you can thank Mr. Tough-On-Crime himself, President Bush) than the oversensitive ninny strawmen so frequently invoked as the cause. <BR/><BR/>That being said, Livingstone and Jasper sound like total idiots.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com