Community Partnerships to Fight Crime and Substance Abuse

The key to safe communities lies h an interactive * bfbvwencitizens and enforcement. citizens h e a r e s & Z S G % p a t c- and criminal activi - to be the eyes and ean~of police. on the round, in communities. %is essay discusses the relotronshrp between ne&hohood pride, civic responsibility, and public safeiy.

by LEE P. BROWN

he National CMc League has been a champion of the cause of cities T for nearly a century, ever since Theodore Roosevelt recognized that urban America. with all of its energy, with all of its complexity, was the future. That was in 1894, when he founded the League. Interestingly enough, a year later he became the police commissioner of NewYork City. Ninety-five years later, I occupy that oflice, and use the very same desk Roosevelt used when he was the police commissioner.

One cannot sit behindTheodore Roosevelt's desk without an obligation to history. In calling for what is now the National Civic League, Roosevelt challenged men and women to work for the higher life ofAmerican cities. He knew that for all the promise of the cities. they also faced special challenges in terms of public education, population density, and issues related to public health, public safety. and employment. Roosevelt knew that the promise - but also the problems - of cities were so large that they should be a d d r e d through a national forum, and by 1894 he knew that small-town America had given way to the urban future and the National Municipal League was born.

For all of F2ooseAt's remarkable sense for what the future would hold for the nation and its cities, I suspect he had no way of predicting the emergence of crack cocaine, for example, as a key factor in the health and safety of modem day America. As a consemtiontst and a hunter, could the Theodore Roosevelt of a centuIy ago possibly foresee the emergence of a powerful, well-flnanced gun lobby, a lobby that could convince Congress that the future of the American sportsman relied on the ready availability of automatic pistols and assault weapons. I think Roosevelt would find it unimaginable, but here we are today with drugs and guns, and they are the evil twins of modern America. Guns - the great equalizer for the drug dealer and the addict alike - have come to be regarded as a status symbol by many of our adolescents. Only yesterday, we were

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concernedabout thelntatuationofpoorMdswithsneakcrsthat cost $100 a pair. Now we worry about thek love aEdrs with guns that cost two or three times as much.

In 1960, for example, ofall the homicides committed in NewYorkClty, 19 percent were committed with handguns. In 1990, that number has jumped up to almost 70 percent; in 69 percent of the homicides committed in my city, the handgun is the tool of violence. Last year we confiscated enough illegal guns to equip a small army, 16,000 in all. lhis year we will confiscate from the streets of New York another 17,000, and This is in a city that has one of the toughest gun laws in the country. if not the toughest. I t may be neariy impossible to buy a gun over the counter in New Yo& but it is all too easy in other states, and that is whence 90 percent of the guns used in NewYork City crime come - other states - like my former state of Texas, where a person can be released. literally from a mental institution for the criminally insane, go to any gun store. and buy as many guns as he or she has money to purchase.

For all QfRoosevelt's remarkable sense for what thefiture would hold for the nation and its cities, Isuspect he had no way of predicting the emergence crack cocaine, for example, 0s a key f-or in the health and ssfew Qfmodem day Ametica,

This is why we need national gun control policies, and we need them now. At the very least, we need a commitment to getting the Brady Bffl passed - awry simple bffl that calls for a seven-day waiting period before any person can take delivery on a gun. All the Brady Bffl ash Is that we be given a week to check the record of a gun buyer 80 that we can enforce existing feded laws. laws that prohibit certain categories of people such as convicted felons, drug addicts, and the mentally insane, from purchas- ing guns. It is not too much to ask that we get a chance to stop the guns h-om coming Into our cities, to keep them out of the hands of someone with a criminal record, or someone who is mentally insane.

The Brady Bill has the added advantage of allowing a cooling-off period. This, in itself, will keep some people from killing themselves, or killlng others, because ofa temporary emotional state. Nonetheless, Sara Bmdy. nine years after her husband was crippled by a madman's gun (purchased in Dallas, Texas), is pleading before the deaf ear of Congress. Police departments in New York Clty and communities across America, and thelr cltlzens. will be aided by maklng the passage of the Brady Bffl a priority when the 102nd Congress convenes In January. Moreover. we must keep assault weapons off the streets of our cities. The President recently banned the importation ofassaultweapons. Thatwas good. But he did not ban American-made models. It is of llttle consolatlon to avictlm

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of violence to know that he was shot by an assault weapon made in America. The assault weapon has one purpoee o e to kill as many people as possible, as quickly- possible: they have no legitimate purpose in civilian use.

Perhaps nowhere is the impact of the evils twins of drugs and violence greater than in the field public health. We see it in addiction. overdoses. the AIDS epidemic, and in the violent loss of our children. The police response has been great. yet we measure our response in antst , and by that measurement, at least we are doing our job. We made enough drug arrests in New York City in 1989 alone to incorporate another city - over 100,000 drug arrests. We are building enough new prisons across the country to erect new skylines. But what are prisons, after all is said and done, but monuments to our own failure as a sociew That is not the legacy I intend to leave to New York City, and I know from my conversa- tions that it is not the legacy Americans want in their cities throughout America. Community Policing

In New York City, I intend to do something about the problem. I intend to implement a new system of policing that recognizes the police depart- ment as averyimportant municipal resource that can be used to generate other resources to address the problems of safety, crime, violence, and drugs, and improve the quality of life in our city. Thls new style of policing is called community policing. It represents, in my estimation, not only a proper way of Aghting crime - a better way of fighting crime - but a smarter and more cost-effecttve use of police resoumes. The concept and philosophy are applicable to any community in America.

Perhaps nowhere is the impact of the evils twins qfdrugs and violence greater than in thefleld public health. We see it in addiction, overdoses, the AlDS epidemic, and in the violent loss of our children.

Community policing is based on values: those things that we think are important for a police agency, and appllcable to the police profession in any city. There are four generic values that are important regardless of where we work

First, when we talk about the issue of crime. we are not talldng merely about a police problem. but a community problem. As such, it follows that all members of the community must be involved, in one way or another, in the process of addressing crime - OUT problem. Whatever causes crime. whether it is biological, psychological, sociological, or economic, we all can conclude that the police do not control those factors. But as a society, we assign to the police the sole responsibility to deal with crime. in spite of the fact that they have no control to design, reshape or change

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that which produaes the problem. This is why we must look at crime not just as a police problem, but as a community problem, and accept an obligation, duty and responsibility to address it.

Second, when we set priorities for police agencies, regardless of the police agency, crime prewnHon has to be our greatest concern. It is better to prevent crime than to have the machinery of a police agency go into motion after a citizen has been vlctimlzed. Crime prevention has to the top priorily.

Third, when we look at the rok of police in our democratic society, we must understand that it consists, in addition to enforcing the law and delivering other services, of pxeserving and advancing the principles of our democracy. The role of the police omcer must also be to preserve and protect the rights that are guaranteed to every American under the Constitution of the United States. Police omcers take an oath to do that, and to the extent that every police omcer understands thls responsibility, they become the most tmportant people in our vast structure of govern- ment.

Fourth and Anally. we must recognize that there arc numerous important trends at work in Arnerica. Our social analysts and our futurists tell us that Amerlcans are concerned about what happens in their neighborhoods and what impacts their quality of life. In addition. Americans today are more willing than ever before to get involved in doing what is necessary to improve local quality of life - relying less on government - and doing more themselves.

. . . communitgpolidng . . . represents, in my estimation, not only apmper way flflghting crime-abetter way qfjlghting crime -but a smarter clnd mote cost-&&ctiue use QfpoZice resources. TheconceptandphitosophyareappZicabZetocuyl communiQ in America.

There is a self-help movement underway wherein individuals are con- cerned about community problems and Wng to take personal action to solve them. This phenomenon is evidenced by citizen patrols, block- watch programs, crime-stopper programs, and many others in which citi- zens themselves are getting directly involved to deal with the issue of safety and security in their neighborhoods. Thus. law enforcement must be able to 'piggy-back" on that grass-roots movement of self-help.

These four values can form the basis ofa system. style, philosophy. and concept of policing that is xelevant to any community's experience and re- sources, what we generically call community policing.

What is community policing? I d e h e the concept as an interactive process - one that never stops - between the police omcer, assigned to

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a beat, and the people who live or work in the community. The purpose of the interaction is to achieve t h m things: 1) toJointZy determine the problems of greatest concern to the p p l e who live or work in that area Not so much how we, the police ~ c t the problems - because we can misread what the people want and need - but rathex how the people themselves define their problems; 2) to Jointly identify the best strategies for addressing those problem; and 3) to use the combined resources of the police and the community to address the probkms that have a negative impact on the quality of We in neighborhoods and cities. From the police perspective, the key element of this strategy is the empower- ment of citizens to work with us as partners to do what Is necessary to improve the quality of life in our communities.

Communitypolicing . . . recognizes thatpotice respond to the sameincfdentsouertuuioueragain. Whv? Becausewehave done nothing to solve the problem. ~~~~ ~

How does this M e r h m traditional policing’? In New York City, as in most cities in America if not the free world, we police according to a traditional system wherein we put police omcers in cars. assign them a geographical area to patrol which we call a beat, and give them a radio. When someone calls 91 1 we dispatch that message to the offlcer. He or she will go to the scene, do something about the incident, get back in the car, and continue to patrol randomly, That process repeats itself 24 hours a day. Conclusion

Community policing suggests that there are two flaws in our tradi- tional wisdom about policing. First, it suggests that random patrol produces random results, and we need more from our resources than random results. Second, it recognizes that police respond to the same incidents over and Over again. Why” Because we have done nothing to solve the problem Accordingly, a small percentage of the population consumes the vast majority of police resources.

Under this definition of community policing, we would address those two flaws because police would have as their focus problem-soZuing and not incrclent-responding.

lee P. Brown b Commfssionerof the N e w Yo& CUy PblICe Deparbnent Thls ariide was adapted fmmhis d s tothe96thNatbnalCor$emncem Gowmanoe, satrulday, IIlowmber 17,1990, Baltimoe, M a r y l a n d

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