{"id":3964,"date":"2021-06-09T18:55:12","date_gmt":"2021-06-10T01:55:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=3964"},"modified":"2021-06-10T10:30:16","modified_gmt":"2021-06-10T17:30:16","slug":"building-trust-in-the-police-through-non-enforcement-is-also-baloney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=3964","title":{"rendered":"“Building Trust” in the Police through Non-Enforcement Is Also Baloney"},"content":{"rendered":"

In my last entry, I noted that the routine, caustic phrase pasted on the United States by “criminal justice reformers”\u00a0 —\u00a0 “incarceration nation”\u00a0 —\u00a0 is hogwash.\u00a0 Ninety-nine and a-half percent of the population is not<\/em><\/strong> incarcerated, and the fraction of one percent who are generally did quite a bit to earn it.<\/p>\n

I now want to address another whooper told by the reformers:\u00a0 That the police can “build trust” in the community by taking a more relaxed attitude toward crime, and generally by “de-escalating” enforcement.\u00a0 This argument is all the rage in faculty lounges in Palo Alto, New Haven, Cambridge, etc.\u00a0 But, as the Baltimore Sun tells us<\/a>, it’s anything but the rage with the actual communities that have been the unwilling experimental rats of dumbed-down policing.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The headline of the Sun’s story is “Fells Point businesses threaten to withhold taxes if Baltimore does not address crime, drug dealing and other issues.”\u00a0<\/em> Here’s how it starts:<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

More than 30 business and restaurant owners in Fells Point are threatening to withhold taxes if city leaders do not address crime, trash and other issues they say are plaguing the waterfront neighborhood.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

The group sent a letter to Baltimore officials Tuesday \u2014 two days after\u00a0three people were shot in the popular and historic nightlife destination\u00a0<\/a>early Sunday morning \u2014 complaining about blatant drug sales, public drinking and other problems they say are happening in plain sight while police are handcuffed from enforcing the law.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\n
\n
\n

The letter bemoans a \u201cculture of lawlessness\u201d that allows the ” the kinds of violence and tragedy we witnessed (over the weekend).\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

The letter is a sharp response not only to the violence of the weekend, but also to the policies of State\u2019s Attorney Marilyn Mosby, who earlier this year announced that she will\u00a0no longer prosecute a host of crimes<\/a>, including drug possession, public drinking and urination, and trespassing, among others.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Hey, wait, weren’t we told that if the cops would just take it easy and, say, hold more bake sales, the community would become more peaceable and livable?\u00a0 Where are the people who kept telling us that?\u00a0 Oh, right, they don’t live anywhere near the neighborhoods they’re happy to sacrifice to their some-other-universe ideas.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

Zy Richardson, spokeswoman for the State\u2019s Attorney\u2019s Office, issued a statement saying the fights and shooting in Fells Point had nothing to do with the office policies to cease prosecuting nonviolent crimes.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

\u201dThe assaults, the malicious destruction of personal and private property, and the shooting that took place in Fells Point this past weekend has nothing to do with our policies to divert those suffering from mental health and substance use disorders,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Of course!\u00a0 Everybody’s sick, nobody’s bad.\u00a0 Where have we seen that before?\u00a0 (Hint:\u00a0 On defense counsels’ word processors, which haven’t been refurbished in 50 long years).<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n

Vignarajah [an attorney representing Fells Point businesses] said many communities across the city have similar frustrations about trash and crime….He said the group of businesses are speaking up not just for themselves, but for their customers and employees, and other communities.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

\u201cI think they are hoping to speak up on behalf of the entire city,\u201d he said. \u201cThey know these problems are happening all over the city.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

The letter points particularly at what the business and restaurant owners say are the very public crimes taking place nightly that discourage people from visiting the neighborhood and hurts their ability to keep businesses running.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are not concealed, clandestine operations by sophisticated gangs with suppliers and lookouts. These are brazen individuals who conduct their business in plain sight because they know Baltimore City will do nothing to prevent or punish them,\u201d the letter read. \u201cThis hurts the family fabric and tourist value of the community.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Once again, we see where the mantra about “building community trust” by standing down on enforcement is not only not the truth; it’s the opposite<\/em> of the truth.\u00a0 It does not build respect for or trust in the police, but instead builds disappointment with them in law abiding people and contempt for them by open air criminals.<\/p>\n

If the police want to build trust, it’s easy:\u00a0 Do the job the taxpayers are paying them to do\u00a0 —\u00a0 preserve safety, property, and a reasonably decent sense of public order.\u00a0 Do so with discipline and judgment but without apology.\u00a0 When the police do that, they get oodles of community good will (a lot more, I might add, than lawyers do<\/a>).\u00a0 When they don’t, what we get is Baltimore.<\/p>\n

UPDATE: Paul Mirengoff’s typically insightful discussion is here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In my last entry, I noted that the routine, caustic phrase pasted on the United States by “criminal justice reformers”\u00a0 —\u00a0 “incarceration nation”\u00a0 —\u00a0 is hogwash.\u00a0 Ninety-nine and a-half percent of the population is not incarcerated, and the fraction of one percent who are generally did quite a bit to earn it. I now want to address another whooper told by the reformers:\u00a0 That the police can “build trust” in the community by taking a more relaxed attitude toward crime, and generally by “de-escalating” enforcement.\u00a0 This argument is all the rage in faculty lounges in Palo Alto, New Haven, Cambridge, etc.\u00a0 But, as the Baltimore Sun tells us, it’s anything but the rage with the actual communities that have been the unwilling experimental rats of dumbed-down policing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-policing"],"yoast_head":"\n"Building Trust" in the Police through Non-Enforcement Is Also Baloney - Crime & Consequences<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=3964\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\""Building Trust" in the Police through Non-Enforcement Is Also Baloney - Crime & Consequences\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In my last entry, I noted that the routine, caustic phrase pasted on the United States by “criminal justice reformers”\u00a0 —\u00a0 “incarceration nation”\u00a0 —\u00a0 is hogwash.\u00a0 Ninety-nine and a-half percent of the population is not incarcerated, and the fraction of one percent who are generally did quite a bit to earn it. I now want to address another whooper told by the reformers:\u00a0 That the police can “build trust” in the community by taking a more relaxed attitude toward crime, and generally by “de-escalating” enforcement.\u00a0 This argument is all the rage in faculty lounges in Palo Alto, New Haven, Cambridge, etc.\u00a0 But, as the Baltimore Sun tells us, it’s anything but the rage with the actual communities that have been the unwilling experimental rats of dumbed-down policing.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=3964\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Crime & Consequences\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CriminalJusticeLegalFoundation\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-06-10T01:55:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-06-10T17:30:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/FB_DefaultLJ.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bill Otis\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bill Otis\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=3964\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=3964\",\"name\":\"\\\"Building Trust\\\" in the Police through Non-Enforcement Is Also Baloney - Crime & Consequences\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-06-10T01:55:12+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-06-10T17:30:16+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d089f7e65aa652190318c44070da5e6e\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=3964#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=3964\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=3964#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"“Building Trust” in the Police through Non-Enforcement Is Also Baloney\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/\",\"name\":\"Crime & Consequences\",\"description\":\"Crime and criminal law\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d089f7e65aa652190318c44070da5e6e\",\"name\":\"Bill Otis\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?author=6\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"\"Building Trust\" in the Police through Non-Enforcement Is Also Baloney - Crime & Consequences","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=3964","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"\"Building Trust\" in the Police through Non-Enforcement Is Also Baloney - Crime & Consequences","og_description":"In my last entry, I noted that the routine, caustic phrase pasted on the United States by “criminal justice reformers”\u00a0 —\u00a0 “incarceration nation”\u00a0 —\u00a0 is hogwash.\u00a0 Ninety-nine and a-half percent of the population is not incarcerated, and the fraction of one percent who are generally did quite a bit to earn it. I now want to address another whooper told by the reformers:\u00a0 That the police can “build trust” in the community by taking a more relaxed attitude toward crime, and generally by “de-escalating” enforcement.\u00a0 This argument is all the rage in faculty lounges in Palo Alto, New Haven, Cambridge, etc.\u00a0 But, as the Baltimore Sun tells us, it’s anything but the rage with the actual communities that have been the unwilling experimental rats of dumbed-down policing.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=3964","og_site_name":"Crime & Consequences","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CriminalJusticeLegalFoundation\/","article_published_time":"2021-06-10T01:55:12+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-06-10T17:30:16+00:00","og_image":[{"width":300,"height":400,"url":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/FB_DefaultLJ.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Bill Otis","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Bill Otis","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=3964","url":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=3964","name":"\"Building Trust\" in the Police through Non-Enforcement Is Also Baloney - Crime & Consequences","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-06-10T01:55:12+00:00","dateModified":"2021-06-10T17:30:16+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d089f7e65aa652190318c44070da5e6e"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=3964#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=3964"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?p=3964#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"“Building Trust” in the Police through Non-Enforcement Is Also Baloney"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/","name":"Crime & Consequences","description":"Crime and criminal law","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d089f7e65aa652190318c44070da5e6e","name":"Bill Otis","url":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/?author=6"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3964"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3964\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3975,"href":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3964\/revisions\/3975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crimeandconsequences.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}