Debates over "Broken Windows" Policing

In 1993, Rudy Giuliani was elected as mayor of New York City. In subsequent years, impressive gains were made; by 2000, violent crime dropped by 56%. Giuliani would credit that reduction to what came to be known as "Broken Windows" policing; the tactic, predicated on the basic assumption that petty crimes are gateways to more serious ones and that, in essence, policing petty crimes in neighborhoods where they are common will help, over time, to reduce more serious and violent crimes. This tactic seemed often to result in heightened presence of police in specific areas in order to rapidly respond to minor disorders; some argued that the eventual hotspots of police presence were located largely in poor areas - and that the crimes for which the poor would be punished, which included minor altercations, graffiti and drug use, were comparable or even the same as offenses committed by wealthier citizens to whom private spaces to commit such offenses without scrutiny were more readily available. In a place such as New York City, such circumstances also led to accusations of subtle racism, which alleged that, even if not intentionally racist, the police tended to interpret unspecific requirements laid out by the policy more harshly when policing the poor and nonwhite minorities. Proponents of the policy point out that the citizens who request police assistance in situations which fall under "Broken Windows" categories are often of similar economic statuses and demographic categories to those whom they call the police on; people who live in the same neighborhood and request each others' arrest often live as part of a cultural community.

Some question the effectiveness of the policy itself; they allege that the success under Giuliani's administration has less to do with the ways in which cops conduct themselves in the community and more to do with their mere presence, the numbers of which were increased in order to fuel the needs of the Broken Windows policy. As far as they are concerned, police presence at the scene of a potential crime discourages most potential perpetrators from attempting any sort of crime. This seems to align with statistics that indicate the beginnings of drops in crime rates with the increase in police numbers under Giuliani's predecessor, David Dinkins.

http://www.businessinsider.com/criticism-for-giulianis-broken-windows-theory-2014-12
https://www.city-journal.org/html/why-we-need-broken-windows-policing-13696.html
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/crime/2014/12/edward_banfield_the_racist_classist_origins_of_broken_windows_policing.html