Not Entertainment

[kandrathe]

Effectively, the cops left first. Or, to put it more accurately, their presence did. It happened when beat cops were put into cars. The beat cop was there. You'd be in an alley with some of your friends discussing some mischief or other, and then you'd notice that he was about ten feet away, with a look on his face that said, "Talk about it all you want, but if you do it, you'll deal with me." It's not like a patrol car could sneak up on you all quiet like. Hell, a patrol car probably wouldn't even go into an alley -- at most, maybe, shine a light down it. Thinking about shoplifting, tagging, some other vandalism? Figure you can get away before the cops show up? And there's the beat cop, standing right in front of the store, rocking back and forth on his feet. Fantastic deterrent.

Absolutely.

Crime is very much a local problem.

Yeah, really. The poverty in Colombia, Mexico, and Afghanistan have nothing to do with the illegal trafficking of drugs. The hatred of the Jews and therefor the Americans who support them in the Middle East is not connected wit the *two* attacks on the WTC. Strictly, like every other problem you see, a local problem. I'm beginning to think it's not a political stance. You simply have myopia.

Drug Cartels feed from local issues, but they are organized by international illegal corporations. Our problems in the middle east have more to do with our national addiction to war, than they do to the Arab street. 9-11 was nothing new. I can recount countless times in history when a foreign national (or even a small group) penetrated the illusion of the border security of another nation to wreak unimaginable havoc on the society. But, I'd hazard to guess that 99.99% of crime is done by people in or near the area where they live. Read up on our local Somali problems... This terrorism problem is local.

The solution to crime? Like poverty, it seems to be a permanent problem. Police presence helps. Decriminalizing self destructive behavior would help. Cynically in that if drug use is not a crime, crime rates would go down. But realistically, if the police, judiciary, and penal systems weren't so flooded with drug offenses, perhaps they could devote more effort to real crimes. Redoing our judicial system so that it is more accurate, more impartial, and more based on finding the truth and administering justice than it is in some legal gamesmanship would help a lot. And making jails a place that everybody, not just the weak, dreads would help also.

Yes, I agree. If only our criminal system would put more emphasis on crimes harming others and also figure out what they wanted to accomplish (prevention, redemption, punishment, justice), then maybe they'd make better progress. Then, if they really need to interpose themselves into "helping people that hurt themselves", then pitching them in with the violent murderers and rapists seems to be about the last thing that would help. We should not spend our effort or money for "crimes" which merely offend some people (e.g. sexual deviance).

I think I wrote about the trial I was on the jury for a while back. The guy they wanted to convict of a 1st degree felony, was really a heroine addict who stole his own van and slept in it because the law had him barred from sleeping in his own bed (restraining order by the land lord). He was charged with felony witness tampering (a phone call from jail to his common law wife of 10 years), possession of heroine (he was loaded in the back of the van), grand theft for the van (he paid for in her name), and about a half a dozen other misdemeanors.

They wanted the sword of Damocles over his head to force him into a treatment program (e.g. the noble cause). That is how our criminal justice system becomes abused like Nazi police state to force people to do what very well may be in their own best interest. For this type of case, we need a better way other than having to heap a ton of offenses to coerce the miscreant into some treatment program. Damned inefficient. Meanwhile... The guy is certainly engaged in other anti-social behaviors... Maybe petty theft, and probably dealing drugs.