Monday, May 2, 2011

Interesting....

This is what the Tribune says about the rumored new top cop, Garry McCarthy:

"In New York, McCarthy rose to prominence as the department was drawing both praise and criticism for new policing strategies, including the "broken windows" policy of arresting people for the most minor crimes."

How do you think that same policy might play out here?  Especially with a new mayor who has promised to hire a thousand more cops?

20 comments:

  1. I was SOOO happy to read this!

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  2. McCarthy is a pretty solid choice.

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  3. I am no expert on policing, but I feel like a "broken window" policing strategy could work wonders for Uptown.

    It would be painful at first, and it would absolutely have to be part of a holistic, sustainable plan to rid our hood of the criminal element.

    Our police would really have to act as law enforcers...

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  4. I was also very happy to read about this. But they are going to need a lot more police to make this really happen. Currently, it appears the police department can barely keep up with the really ugly stuff going on. Don't get me wrong the police in this city do outstanding work time and time again. But they need a lot more help to get more of the job done.

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  5. This would be great but would need some other fixes to the system such as more jails, a streamlined paperwork process so that cops are on the streets and not in the office for hours, and harsher penalties that escalate with severity and frequency of crimes. For most minor crimes it should take 5-10 minutes of paperwork. Does anyone know how long it takes now for an officer to arrest someone for public drinking until that officer is back in service?

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  6. If you want a glimpse of his personality, you should look at the documentary series "Brick City" on the Sundance Channel. If follows the Mayor of Newark, Corey Booker, but he gets a fair amount of air time in some episodes.
    http://www.sundancechannel.com/brick-city/

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  7. The LAST thing we need is MORE jails or prisons. What we need is to stop imprisoning non-violent offenders while letting off the gun-toting offenders. We have more people imprisoned than any country in the world. I think less is a good direction to go, not more.

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  8. ChiTownPhilly -- I agree that we imprison too much, but we gotta start small. Gun violence is out of control and gun access is not decreasing. Guns come with drug dealers who prey on drug users and abusers. Drug users and abusers often drink in public, loiter, and litter. Start small. I am very happy with the McCarthy choice.

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  9. I agree that we need to have fewer people imprisoned, but I don't think we're talking about imprisonment here. We're talking about setting a standard that signals other crimes can't be committed, which would include a booking, maybe a fee and taking someone off the street for a few hours.

    If anyone has chance to read "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell it gives a great introduction into how social phenomenons, such as crime, can be altered by little actions. The case study was the New York subways system. How did it go from a murderous, dangerous system to the envy of other cities? Cleaning all graffiti and making sure people didn't skip paying for their tickets. Those signals were what set the standard for what would be socially acceptable on the lines. It's a fascinating read, if you get the chance.

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  10. It is statistically likely to work if done properly.

    And you can indeed take statistical probability to the bank.

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  11. What I know about Gary McCarthy is just from watching him on the show “Brick City” where he looked to be a pretty good cop and I think he’s capable of doing a good job here. However , if he was frustrated by the politics in Newark, wait till he gets here , and sees how things work. The police are only a third of the solution to what’s going on in Chicago , and I think for the most part they do a good job, making good arrests of bad people. However , without the State’s Attorneys office and the judges being on board, things aren’t going to change much. A big part of the success I think New York and Newark saw was due to people realizing they were going to be held accountable if they committed crimes. That’s not going on here . When I first went to work for the court back 21 years ago, we had an ex-cop Republican States Attorney and there was definitely a difference in the Asa’s I saw in court. I’m not saying there aren’t good Asa’s today , I just think there were more of them and they were more aggressive in getting cases into court and prosecuting them. Also, over the years , most of the better judges I have seen had put their time in as either public defenders or State’s attorneys and they seemed to have a much better understanding of the criminal system. Political appointees who think they can change things by being nice and giving chance after chance create a climate of unaccountability.

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  12. Ok, last commented was rejected. I would like to see a leader be a real "ball buster" and start cracking down on the petty quality of life issues. Disperse the mailbox drinking party and if they have to scare the crap out of them, so be it.
    Downtown is especially getting worse and is plagued by aggressive panhandlers, they will run up to you and yank your headphones out if you ignore them. Then, they experience the wintry freshness of mace. Enough is enough already.

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  13. This could be great news for Uptown... case in point, the apartment building on the corner of Malden/Leland with scaffolding & with bricks falling on the sidewalk for a year+.

    http://www.uptownupdate.com/2010/09/cornerstone-preservation.html

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  14. Hopefully this guy will ban the sale of cold beer in problem areas of the city. It is just too tempting for the local riff raff especially during the summer months.

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  15. He seems like a very competent choice, probably a better fit then the the outgoing with an FBI background.

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  16. This was brought up at the Buena Park Neighbors event tonight with James saying he fully agrees with the theory and can't wait to see it implemented.

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  17. Ehhhh....I think more police with this type of policy leads to abuses. Suddenly, it's the ones who were originally looking for protection now becoming victims of petty enforement. I know this isn't agood example, but I see cars on my block who are literally parked one inch over the white lines marking the intersection getting multiple tickets plastered on their cars (no, not me personally)! Take this to the beat patrol level, and suddenly well intentioned people are getting harrassed while the "bad guys" still seem to get away with whatever they want. Call me a cynic.

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  18. I think this is AWESOME and laugh at people that are complaining about this.. Here is a simple way to avoid having an issue.. DONT BREAK THE LAW....The reason there are laws in place is because society believes there is a reason for them.. whether it is drinking in public, loitering, solicitation... or parkign violations.... the whole problem with Uptown is it si a community of people that have had a leader that for 24 years encouraged people to make excuses and have no responsibility for their actions...

    ..guess what, taht all changes next week.. Make a bad decision.. pay the consequences.. if it is good enough for the rest of teh city, it is certainly good enough for Uptown.... MORE POLICE! YEA!

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  19. @ Guapo! said... "MORE POLICE! YEA!"

    BINGO!

    Laws, ordinances, rules, etc. mean NOTHING without enforcement.

    Enforcement is not possible without manpower.

    Unfortunately, manpower is expensive and the Daley administration has been making billion$ in taxes disappear, or be redirected, for two decades now instead of maintaining the Police and Fire Departments.

    Maybe you like all the flower boxes in the middle of Lake Shore Dr and all our main streets. How about the fences around all the parks in the city? How about that Chicago 2016 Olympics debacle? The BGA and Andy Shaw are on record as saying as much as 14% of EVERY tax dollar disappears in fraud, nepotism, ghost payrollers, rigged contracts, cost overruns and other assorted over payments, waste and outright corruption. THAT is the place to start.

    For those of you who don't want to see people jailed, then you will have the chaos in your neighborhood that you seem to crave. Enjoy it. Society always realizes the environment that they are willing to accept.

    As far as Emanuals' promise to hire 1000 new officers, THAT will not effect much since the Department is OVER 2000 short of their budgeted strength already, and those 1000 officers could not be hired and trained in one fell swoop anyway. It takes years to hire and train THAT MANY officers and, of course, many more will be retiring in the meantime.

    And, if anyone needs to be reminded of this, not a lot of what gets promised during "campaign season" becomes a reality after an election. Rahm has ALREADY lied about hiring a police Superintendent from WITHIN the ranks of the CPD. I think you will see many more of those little campaign lies as Emanual's reign unfolds.

    Have we STILL not learned that politicians are not the most trustworthy bunch on the planet?

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