Toward a safer community

It was supposed to usher in a dramatic rise in crime. When New York City ended its controversial stop-and-frisk policy, which had given police officers the ability to stop and search someone on the “reasonable suspicion” that they had committed a crime, rather than having probable cause to do so, there were a host of predictions that the city was doomed. A chorus of voices said criminals would be emboldened and have the run of the city. Citizens and tourists, critics warned, would bear the brunt of this new lax enforcement environment.

However, a few years after the policy reversal, New York City is now known as the “safest big city in America.” According to former New York Police Department Commissioner William Bratton, “You can have smarter policing without having softer policing and that’s pretty much what has happened in New York City.” Bratton noted that, “Smart policing entails focusing on who is committing the  crimes.” It involves “an intense focus on the 5,000 to 7,000 who are seriously and consistently involved in criminal activity, as opposed to stopping 600,000 to 700,000 young black and Hispanic men,” thereby alienating the very population you need to help you combat crime.