{"id":4114,"date":"2016-08-19T07:29:04","date_gmt":"2016-08-19T11:29:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dougsbriefcase.com\/blog\/?p=4114"},"modified":"2016-08-20T03:34:20","modified_gmt":"2016-08-20T07:34:20","slug":"dojs-zero-tolerance-zero-tolerance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dougsbriefcase.com\/blog\/dojs-zero-tolerance-zero-tolerance\/","title":{"rendered":"DOJ<\/span>\u2019s Zero Tolerance Of Zero Tolerance"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

\"A<\/a>

A Jus\u00adtice Depart\u00adment report crit\u00adi\u00adcal of the Bal\u00adti\u00admore police missed the point. So did those who praised and fault\u00aded it. [Cred\u00adit: NY<\/span> Post]<\/p><\/div>The Depart\u00adment of Jus\u00adtice report<\/a> on Bal\u00adti\u00admore police prac\u00adtices has prompt\u00aded pre\u00addictable reac\u00adtions from Left and Right.\n

The report con\u00adfirmed sus\u00adpi\u00adcions on the Left that police uncon\u00adsti\u00adtu\u00adtion\u00adal\u00adly harassed African-Amer\u00adi\u00adcan males. From the Right came reflex\u00adive defens\u00ades of the police.<\/p>\n

Both have a point.  And both miss the point.  As does the report itself.<\/p>\n

The Jus\u00adtice Depart\u00adment alleges that the Bal\u00adti\u00admore Police Depart\u00adment engaged in a pat\u00adtern and prac\u00adtice of unlaw\u00adful and uncon\u00adsti\u00adtu\u00adtion\u00adal behav\u00adior.  The report found \u201csys\u00adtemic defi\u00adcien\u00adcies\u201d \u2013 police are poor\u00adly trained, poor\u00adly mon\u00adi\u00adtored and not held \u201caccount\u00adable for mis\u00adcon\u00adduct.\u201d  The city has not sup\u00adplied its offi\u00adcers \u201cthe nec\u00ades\u00adsary equip\u00adment and resources they need to police safe\u00adly, con\u00adsti\u00adtu\u00adtion\u00adal\u00adly and effec\u00adtive\u00adly.\u201d  Those short\u00adcom\u00adings have result\u00aded in \u201ccon\u00adsti\u00adtu\u00adtion\u00adal and statu\u00adto\u00adry violations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sub\u00adstan\u00adti\u00adat\u00ading such \u201cpat\u00adtern and prac\u00adtice\u201d alle\u00adga\u00adtions requires no evi\u00addence.  Mere arith\u00admetic will do. If police fre\u00adquent\u00adly stop and search African-Amer\u00adi\u00adcans in a par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar neigh\u00adbor\u00adhood, DOJ<\/span> infers insti\u00adtu\u00adtion\u00adal racism.  The neighborhood\u2019s open air drug mar\u00adkets and ele\u00advat\u00aded lev\u00adels of vio\u00adlent crime are at best inci\u00adden\u00adtal to its analysis.<\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>Willing To Do What It Takes\u201d<\/h1>\n

DOJ<\/span> has demand\u00aded that the city aban\u00addon its \u201czero tol\u00ader\u00adance\u201d pol\u00adi\u00adcy.  Advo\u00adcates<\/a> of the pol\u00adi\u00adcy believe that attack\u00ading dis\u00ador\u00adder (e.g., arrest\u00ading peo\u00adple for minor offens\u00ades like loi\u00adter\u00ading) pre\u00advents more seri\u00adous crimes.  DOJ<\/span> con\u00adtends that such poli\u00adcies lead to uncon\u00adsti\u00adtu\u00adtion\u00adal actions by police reflect\u00aded in \u201clarge num\u00adbers of stops, search\u00ades and arrests.\u201d It has insist\u00aded that Bal\u00adti\u00admore offi\u00adcials end the practice.<\/p>\n

The city will com\u00adply.  Bal\u00adti\u00admore May\u00ador Stephanie Rawl\u00adings-Blake asked the DOJ<\/span> to under\u00adtake the inves\u00adti\u00adga\u00adtion.  She has pro\u00adnounced<\/a> her\u00adself \u201cwill\u00ading to do what it takes to reform my depart\u00adment.\u201d  That means spend\u00ading scarce resources to cat\u00ade\u00adchize police on a fresh list of \u201cdo\u2019s and don\u2019ts.\u201d<\/p>\n

The new police prac\u00adtices won\u2019t stop the car\u00adnage.  Bal\u00adti\u00admore suf\u00adfered 344 homi\u00adcides<\/a> last year \u2013 a per capi\u00adta record. Most per\u00adpe\u00adtra\u00adtors and vic\u00adtims were young, black males. Mur\u00adders occurred more fre\u00adquent\u00adly after a man named Fred\u00addie Gray<\/a> died after suf\u00adfer\u00ading injuries while in police cus\u00adtody.  The April 2015 inci\u00addent pro\u00advoked riots and blood\u00adshed. Baltimore\u2019s homi\u00adcide rate has remained ele\u00advat\u00aded<\/a> ever since.<\/p>\n

Nor is the spike in mur\u00adders of young African-Amer\u00adi\u00adcans lim\u00adit\u00aded to Bal\u00adti\u00admore.  An aca\u00add\u00ade\u00adm\u00adic study<\/a> com\u00admis\u00adsioned by DOJ<\/span> found that the \u201chomi\u00adcide increase in the nation\u2019s large cities was real and near\u00adly unprece\u00addent\u00aded.\u201d  It is too soon to say whether a broad retreat from \u201czero tol\u00ader\u00adance\u201d poli\u00adcies among urban police forces con\u00adtributed to this increase.<\/p>\n

A Conflict For Conservatives<\/h1>\n

As a con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtive, I find myself con\u00adflict\u00aded.  I am offend\u00aded both by those who hurl charges of racism to legit\u00adimize crime, incite vio\u00adlence and enrich them\u00adselves (see Sharp\u00adton, Al) and by police who resort to exces\u00adsive \u2013 and some\u00adtimes lethal \u2014 force.<\/p>\n

Indeed, the whole idea of a police force occu\u00adpy\u00ading our streets is a rel\u00ada\u00adtive\u00adly recent one. The Founders did not imag\u00adine that gov\u00adern\u00adment would deploy qua\u00adsi-mil\u00adi\u00adtary forces to estab\u00adlish min\u00adi\u00admal lev\u00adels of pub\u00adlic safe\u00adty.  Dete\u00adri\u00ado\u00adrat\u00ading social con\u00addi\u00adtions in some com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adties neces\u00adsi\u00adtat\u00aded this intervention.<\/p>\n

Gov\u00adern\u00adment is prone to abuse its pow\u00ader, over\u00adspilling con\u00adsti\u00adtu\u00adtion\u00adal lim\u00adits.  The notion that police can stop some\u00adone because he looks like the sort who might be up to no good is con\u00adsti\u00adtu\u00adtion\u00adal\u00adly suspect.<\/p>\n

But plac\u00ading exces\u00adsive con\u00adstraints on police risks putting cit\u00adi\u00adzens at the mer\u00adcy of vio\u00adlent thugs.  Both are paths to tyranny.<\/p>\n

The Point DOJ<\/span> Missed<\/h1>\n

And that is the point the DOJ<\/span>, as well as most com\u00admen\u00adta\u00adtors on the Left and Right, seem to have missed.<\/p>\n

The fun\u00adda\u00admen\u00adtal issue is not police pro\u00adto\u00adcols, but the efface\u00adment of social norms in many neigh\u00adbor\u00adhoods.  Com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adties where such norms have bro\u00adken down have no good options. They can tol\u00ader\u00adate con\u00adsti\u00adtu\u00adtion\u00adal\u00adly ques\u00adtion\u00adable police tac\u00adtics or slide fur\u00adther toward a bru\u00adtal dystopia.<\/p>\n

In the com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adties where most Amer\u00adi\u00adcans live, the pre\u00advail\u00ading (though hard\u00adly uni\u00adver\u00adsal) norms include get\u00adting a job to sup\u00adport your\u00adself and your fam\u00adi\u00adly, defer\u00adring child\u00adbirth until after mar\u00adriage, car\u00ading for your chil\u00addren with\u00adout pub\u00adlic assis\u00adtance and main\u00adtain\u00ading your prop\u00ader\u00adty. Broad adher\u00adence to such val\u00adues is essen\u00adtial to a peace\u00adful soci\u00adety. Gov\u00adern\u00adment nei\u00adther devised these norms nor enforces them.  On the con\u00adtrary, these val\u00adues sup\u00adply the nec\u00ades\u00adsary social con\u00addi\u00adtions for con\u00adsti\u00adtu\u00adtion\u00adal government.<\/p>\n

Our gov\u00adern\u00adment, para\u00addox\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly, has spent hun\u00addreds of bil\u00adlions of dol\u00adlars sub\u00adsi\u00addiz\u00ading behav\u00adior that flouts these norms.  It rewards choic\u00ades that cor\u00adrode per\u00adson\u00adal and social respon\u00adsi\u00adbil\u00adi\u00adty.  These sub\u00adsi\u00addies present them\u00adselves as blos\u00adsoms of com\u00adpas\u00adsion but yield a bit\u00adter fruit: whole com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adties ter\u00adror\u00adized by young men with guns.<\/p>\n

Government Counterinsurgency<\/h1>\n

Gov\u00adern\u00admen\u00adt\u2019s response to the prob\u00adlem it helped incu\u00adbate is an armed coun\u00adterin\u00adsur\u00adgency. Lib\u00ader\u00adals are uneasy with this.  Con\u00adser\u00adv\u00ada\u00adtives should be.<\/p>\n

But the dis\u00adcus\u00adsion should expand beyond argu\u00adments over mat\u00adters of race, law enforce\u00adment tech\u00adniques and gov\u00adern\u00admen\u00adt\u2019s role in main\u00adtain\u00ading order. It should instead cen\u00adter on the cause of vio\u00adlence in our streets: the ero\u00adsion of cul\u00adtur\u00adal norms on which free\u00addom and self-gov\u00adern\u00adment depend.  There are no reme\u00addies for com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adties in which those norms have worn away, only a sim\u00admer\u00ading caul\u00addron of per\u00adpet\u00adu\u00adal conflict.<\/p>\n

If I lived in Fred\u00addie Gray\u2019s neigh\u00adbor\u00adhood, I would both resent the police and want them to pro\u00adtect me from the likes of Fred\u00addie<\/a>.   I would hold these two con\u00adflict\u00ading impuls\u00ades with equal fer\u00advor.  I would be relieved when the cops shot some kid who had been mak\u00ading my life and those of my neigh\u00adbors mis\u00ader\u00adable.  I also would resent the police for shoot\u00ading that kid and sus\u00adpect they did it out of con\u00adtempt for peo\u00adple of my race.  My resent\u00adments would arise from the mis\u00adery of liv\u00ading among armed men \u2014 some crim\u00adi\u00adnal, some dis\u00adpatched by the gov\u00adern\u00adment \u2014 fight\u00ading for con\u00adtrol of the streets.<\/p>\n

I\u2019d wish they all would go to hell.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Depart\u00adment of Jus\u00adtice report on Bal\u00adti\u00admore police prac\u00adtices has prompt\u00aded pre\u00addictable reac\u00adtions from Left and Right. The report con\u00adfirmed sus\u00adpi\u00adcions on the Left that police uncon\u00adsti\u00adtu\u00adtion\u00adal\u00adly harassed African-Amer\u00adi\u00ad\u00adcan males. From the Right came reflex\u00adive defens\u00ades of the police. Both have a \u2026 Con\u00adtin\u00adue read\u00ading \u2192<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4116,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"nfd_image_url":"","nfd_onboarding_generated":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[17,343,739,726,552],"tags":[535,1296,1297,1298,425,544,1299,1295],"class_list":["post-4114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entitlements","category-government-power","category-inequality-2","category-poverty-2","category-welfare-spending","tag-anti-poverty-programs","tag-baltimore-police","tag-doj-baltimore-report","tag-freddie-gray","tag-inequality","tag-poverty","tag-stephanie-rawlings-blake","tag-zero-tolerance"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t