I don’t doubt the EPD could use another facility. But the question for me is what kind of facility would it be and what purpose would it serve? At first blush the answer seems obvious. But there’s a way to understand the presence and function of a police station, new or old, in a different light.
No basis in criminology exists for treating prevention and punitive measures as mutually exclusive concepts. Lawrence W. Sherman, a nationally recognized expert in criminology puts it this way “...crime prevention is a result, while punishment [arrests, incarceration] is only one possible tool to achieve that result. Crime prevention therefore is defined not by its intentions but its consequences.” Reducing risk
factors that drive crime up and increasing protective factors that reduce crime, defined as ‘primary prevention’ by the National Academy of Sciences, shapes the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) broader definition of ‘crime prevention.’ In other words, the Justice Department is making it clear crime prevention is beyond the scope of law enforcement and includes a number of different components based on measurable results (the 'consequences').
Okay, here’s the rub. If our community folded social strategies, street and other interventions, police tactics, education and even economic opportunity into one common philosophy of crime prevention based on the DOJ’s definition, we would erect something much different than a new police station. Imagine perhaps a ‘Community Justice Center’ designed to accommodate offices for street intervention workers, strategic planners, case workers, Weed & Seed and police. A facility with a room where a Public Police Review and Advisory Board met, a citizen’s liaison office exists and a conference room where residents could interact with police on community issues, and along with representatives from each, could sit at a round table shaping and developing policy together. Imagine a place, and I really don’t mean to be cheeky here because there may be good reasons, where the application for a grant and potential locations for a new station did not have to be learned from the rumor mill because it was part of collective process. Imagine a place where the police budget was determined by the shared embrace of ‘rigorous and scientifically recognized standards and methodologies’ from all participating disciplines. Sure, the police department would have its own identity but within the greater identity of a community justice philosophy and facility.
Imagine a community witnessing all these threads uniting, setting aside personal, professional, departmental and political agendas weaving together strategies inuring to public justice. Imagine the perceptions of new movers and neighboring communities peering in and seeing this building representing a community-wide expression of communication, collaboration and cooperation toward the common goal of crime prevention. Imagine a city changing the historic expectation of residents that unfairly lay the burden of crime prevention squarely on the shoulders of police. Imagine a community bridging the antiquated dichotomy between law enforcement and restorative justice.
Imagine I’ve lost my touch with reality :-)
Nevertheless, I’d put that building in the most visible location possible.
**I'm having trouple with reducing the length of my posts with the 'jump' option...working on it.
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9 comments:
Congratulations hopeunseen, you get the idea. I have been reading all of the blogs about the current issues we face and the dilemma of building/rebuilding "our" community.
As I sit here perched in my 3rd floor attic apartment deep in the "hood". I look around and see through my slowly failing eyes a community,my community,"our" community on the verge of what could be a positive era.
But then I also feel disheartened because I also see the daily struggle of folks living paycheck to paycheck,elderly folks afraid to leave their homes, young single mothers working 2 jobs to make ends meet. I see young men & women who I know to be 2nd &3rd generation of welfare recipients, stuck in a way of life they have grown up in. I see people decorating there homes with giant inflatable characters and I see folks who are homeless and will not have a tree... all at the same time.
I see good landlords giving you perhaps that extra day or so to pay the rent and I see Slumlords extracting their pound of flesh, ignoring the unlivable conditions and greedily counting their dollars like"scrooge"all the while getting richer off other folks pain.
I see local college kids,volunteering their time,only to have to defend their actions. I see Churches whose flocks reach out to feed folks and I see others who don't want to be involved. I guess you could say,I see a great deal.
I don't profess to be able to right all the wrongs or to have the solutions to "urban warfare" but I know through experience if I call 911,I get an immediate response. I can't reform the prisons or change the way people think, but I can agree to disagree and I can choose to take a stand.
I have seen our "community" at it's finest and I have seen it at it's worst. What I do know is that if I want to leave a legacy to my grandchildren, it will have to take some work. To paraphrase the good old 12 steps, "I can't....We can!'. Well i think they have something there. So just for today,I will try to make a difference, you may not like what I have written and I may put my foot in my mouth,but it will not be the first time. Collaboration folks is key,we must leave our own agendas at the door and walk blindly,hand in hand if "we' want to succeed. Otherwise, we get caught up in the rights&wrongs and the blame game. I for one will not enter that race if I am gonna run the Marathon it will be with a team cause no way can I run alone.
Sandy--it doesn't sound like you're disagreeing with Terrence at all, those it seems you are apologizing for differing.
1. Please make clear where you feel you disagree, and 2. never feel like you have to apologize for having a differing opinion on this blog--earnest civil debate and brainstorming toward revitalization is the mission of this blog. We all need to be good "listeners" and consider all differing points of view, so that the best ideas can rise to the top. We welcome all civil debaters here--bring it on!
p.s. Terrence, thanks for the post--I tore the page for you!
As for the kind of building and facilities you describe, I love the sound of that, but still think we'd be better off saving prominent buildings on our main drag for businesses that will bring in commerce and attract new home home owners. I would love to see something like what you describe on one of the other streets in our neighborhood though...
There is an interesting letter to the editor in today's ET from David Rose citing among other things that NJ reduced its prison population from 27,000 to 20,000 and closed a major prison.
Yesterday there was notice about Northampton County holding a community meeting on how to reduce recidivism. I was shocked that it was be held in some out of the way location instead of here in Easton and the West Ward.
Terrence - we already have the possibilities for your vision in a prominent location on the blocks of Walnut and Washington street - high on a hill. How do we start?
Anon, my point as well. The state budget calls fir hundreds of millions of dollars for new prisons and enlarged prisons. Why? The county operates our prison the same way they did 50 years ago. This Hope guy has the right message but keeps pointing it at the city. The city provides the enforcement. The county has the facilities, the money and the responsibility to reduce their recividism rate. What do they do ----- incarcerate...again and again.
So let's see, if the county took 100 low-risk inmates (like out of work dads who can't pay their support BECAUSE THEY DON'T HAVE A JOB!) and instead of incarceration at $30,000 a year gave employers a $15,000 a year for three years as 50% of the salary for these 100 inmates the county would save $1.5 million and employers would save $1.5 million dollars in payroll costs.
But the major savings is that 75 of these 100 inmates would not be returning to prison.
It all seems so easy but point at the county because I like what our cops do for me in my neighborhood. It is better than its been in many years and seems to be getting better every day.
Terrence,
Your making too much sense...count me in as supporting the idea. I have come to the conclusion, after watching the ebb and flo of events in Easton for decades, that we need to try something else.
Its a knee jerk reaction for the public to ask for more police when things get worse but how is that really helping anything? It certainly involves tax increases, which everyone also hates, but more cost is the price of more "protection". And Federal grants labeled as "stimulus" can't keep paying for the manpower forever. What part of the economy is actually stimulated by more police officers...and how can temporary funding be considered a permenent fix for our woes?
The war on drugs is an abject failure and that opinion is shared by the majority of nationally known law enforcement leaders. A "war" on anything infers casualties and that wasn't supposed to be the case. We've wasted decades on a "war" that hopes to decrease addictions...well that has never been the real problem. Hardcore addiction rates are not only lower than most people think, they have also been stagnant at that level for decades.
In a way I compare your ideas to the equally radical but dissimilar ideas of legalizing certain drugs or creating red light districts. I'm heavily anti-drugs, but if all the manpower, sentencing mandates, money and effort hasn't resulted in any real statistical changes - and statistics show similar levels of addiction today as we had in 1919 when prohibition started - then I'm ready to give something...anything new a shot.
DRL
Anon@2:13,
I would suggest that you re-read some of Terrence's posts. He has never blamed the EPD for any of these problems. What he is pointing out is that there is a multi-pronged response necessary to prevent crime and reduce the prisom population. This multi-pronged response is beyond the sole responsibility of the EPD and also beyond their training expertise to impliment.
To use football terminology, when we get the proper players in the proper positions our plays will start having the effect we intended and we can matriculate the ball down the field.
The first step in the process is for everyone to admit they can't do it alone and open the floor for honest and critical discussion of all the options. We are not there yet.
DRL
I worked all summer with Dave Rose who is retired from a penal facility in NJ. He is also actively involved in our Community in many ways.We discussed these issues ad nauseum. I understand the need for new police facilities but why was the money spent under previous administrations to create the current facility. And I fear someone will suggest a "study" on this and whoops there we go throwing valuable funding out the door to see yet another study, and is it NEEDS or WANTS? I see 3 issues here, a new police facility, reform at the Motel 666, which has operated at the same level as 50 years ago,and Recidivism.
Well now let's see a new police station, Dare we have a Community vision? The problems at Motel 666, the same problems that have plagued the facility for decades,can we have Community and dare I say Inmate input??? And lastly,recidivism, well that answer is easy,it is the big,bad TREATMENT word. Yes, very necessary programming to assist incarcerated individuals in re-entering society productively and drug & alcohol free. But that means staffing,looking at alternatives to incarceration for non-violent offenders and a re-haul of the Domestic Relations issues.Well I for one would like my opinion to count,I would like to see What the "Community" thinks about this,from the beat cop to the poor guy who lost his job and got socked out of the box because he couldn't pay support, and I would like to see what the inmates have to say,without fear of retribution. So in Sandy's world there would be a panel of so called experts as I have stated above all focused on solutions using current resources and minimizing costs, keeping the Community and it's best interest in mind. And I would like to see it all local, not in Timbuktu where it isn't accessible and I would like to see these forums publicized,so everyone had the choice to participate, then and only then can we really bring things to light and hold everyone accountable. Then possibly we won't have to have knee jerk reaction that currently takes place.
Following up...
Dennis thanks for illustrating the thrust of my point. We must also get beyond equating 'thinking critically' with 'being critical' in the pejorative—particularly when it is an issue around EPD, Mayor's office or any legislator.
Strategies and programs used around the country are reducing crime while complimenting law enforcement and saving tax dollars at the same time.
Where we 'start' is an excellent question and material for another post. However the successes referred to above are framed out of inclusion and collective agreement.
I like Sandra's world. You sound like you are filled with love and compassion for our great city and her people. And you’re right, many youth in my world and inmates I know would never share their opinions or experiences openly for fear of retribution. A statement about perception and what drives it that cannot be overlooked.
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