Zero Tolerance and Broken Windows Policing Criminalizes Homeless and Poor People ... and Can Kill Th

http://www.alternet.org/hard-times-usa/homeless-veteran-murdoughs-death-rikers-reveals-our-collective-disregard-poor



Zero Tolerance and Broken Windows Policing Criminalizes Homeless and Poor People ... and Can Kill Them
By Josmar Trujillo

April 11, 2014 | The recent death of homeless veteran Jerome Murdough in a Rikers Island cell should be more than a temporary debate in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it New York media cycle that often desensitizes us to tragedies. I know it hit close to home for myself — Mr. Murdough sought refuge the night of his arrest in an East Harlem public housing staircase three blocks from my home and across the street from my where my kids go to school. When sleeping in a staircase, I thought, lands you in a Rikers cell, something is wrong.

Murdough's death laid bare some of our collective disregard for the poor as well as an aggressive police department with an obsession for law and order rivaled only by military dictatorships and science fiction characters (i.e., RoboCop, Judge Dredd). Is it enough to have roundtable discussions lamenting the case of Mr. Murdough as one of someone slipping through the cracks? What happened to him is the not-so unpredictable outcome of a society heavily invested in enforcement by way of zero-tolerance policing and criminal justice system. It's an approach that is neither humane nor sustainable. But as some debate what stop-gap reforms or long term legislation might be crafted, let's not lose sight of how Murdough arrived at the cell he would die in: the NYPD and the low-level crime-focused Broken Windows theory that guides it.

This Thursday marks the 100th day of the Bill Bratton's 2nd stint as NYPD Commissioner. Bratton famously helped to introduce and popularize Broken Windows policing theory — which seeks to crack down on small, low-level crimes as a means to fighting crime overall — into one of the most dominant policing philosophies across the country. A country with a prison population that many recognize as untenable.

My own brushes with the law give me insight. I look back to a late night coming come on the A train when I would spend the night in jail after having my foot up on empty seat in front of me. Another man recently filed a lawsuit against the NYPD after an incident where he was charged with also having his foot on a subway seat. I didn't know it then, but this was my first encounter with Broken Windows policing and how the theory actually plays out in the lives of everyday people — not just hardened criminals or the homeless. I also got a sense of how easy it is to end up in jail.