When, exactly, do we get to the "later" part?
How high does the body count have to climb (100+ this year), how many children have to be involved in prostitution (Oakland is a hub for child prostitution), how many innocent people have to be robbed in takeover restaurant robberies (lost track of the number) until we can get tough?
A lot of people simply feel we've hit the "later" part already. Oakland has been a crime-ridden hellhole for a long time.
We've been trying this "feel good" / community-centered approach for decades. It was tried, and failed, during the initial crack boom.
We have an under-funded and under-staffed police department that's handcuffed with political correctness, a corrupt city council, and an ineffective mayor.
Throwing money away on crap that doesn't directly reduce crime or increase academic performance - such as parties, barbecues, and "music-recording weekends" - is a supreme waste of money, time, talent and resources.
Batons to the head, not burgers down the hole.
From an Intel viewpoint it’s bloody brilliant.
You're telling me a mini thug will go thru an interrogation and be photographed... for a burger?
Must be one helluva burger.
If it’s Conservative to be “smart” then that’s definitely Conservative.
I'll take the "dumb" solution: flood the streets with cops.
I'll ask the "dumb" question: who will pay for all these cops?
> When, exactly, do we get to the “later” part?
Do you live in Oakland? If so, then the answer to that one is entirely up to you. If you’ve had enough and want to do more about the problem than just talk, why not organize a Safety Patrol? If that is something that you seriously want for your neighborhood, I would be happy to help you do it (yes, all the way from New Zealand where I live).
How’s that for a deal? We can start tomorrow morning if you like.
> How high does the body count have to climb (100+ this year), how many children have to be involved in prostitution (Oakland is a hub for child prostitution), how many innocent people have to be robbed in takeover restaurant robberies (lost track of the number) until we can get tough?
It will get as high as the citizens of Oakland are willing to allow it to get. And no higher. If it is high enough already, then it is time to do something about it. If it is already too high, then you haven’t got a moment to lose.
> We have an under-funded and under-staffed police department that’s handcuffed with political correctness, a corrupt city council, and an ineffective mayor.
None of that is likely to ever change. The Mayor could fill your streets with cops 24x7 and you know what? You’d still have a crime problem. Cops can only ever be “the ambulance at the bottom of the cliff.” This is because their role is to catch criminals. What your community needs is “the fence at the top of the cliff”. Only your Community can provide that.
> Throwing money away on crap that doesn’t directly reduce crime or increase academic performance - such as parties, barbecues, and “music-recording weekends” - is a supreme waste of money, time, talent and resources.
If throwing money at the problem would directly affect the crime rate or increase academic performance, it would have been done long ago. The problem isn’t as simple as that: I wish it were, but it is not.
These things that you cite as a “supreme waste of money, time, talent and resources” will certainly not solve these problems rapidly. But they are legitimate steps.
You didn’t get a crime problem overnight: it is unrealistic to expect an overnight solution. Baby steps work well.
> Batons to the head, not burgers down the hole.
It’s an appealing thought, but if that didn’t work in South Africa, what makes you think it will work in the US?
> You’re telling me a mini thug will go thru an interrogation and be photographed... for a burger?
Yup, they love to boast. Sometimes for even less than a burger.
> Must be one helluva burger.
Ever wonder why businessmen go out for business lunches? It ain’t because they’re hungry. It’s because they hope to get their client’s natural guards, inhibitions and defenses down over lunch, maybe build some rapport.
Exact same principle at work here.
> I’ll take the “dumb” solution: flood the streets with cops.
At — how much? — $40,000 per copy per annum? More? Twelve more cops are going to cost your community half a million dollars. That’s three shifts of two pairs of cops 24x7. Not much of a flood for half-a-mil, and it doesn’t include a pair of squad cars and petrol to make ‘em run.
Flooding the streets with cops is prohibitively expensive. And it would turn your Community into an armed camp.
Worst of all, it wouldn’t work.