Broken windows vs “soft” policing — lessons from Bristol on how to prevent a riot
I researched “broken window” policing for this essay I wrote last year and it really explains why so many people are advocating for aggressive policing and saying the Bristol cops were “soft”.
The “broken windows” theory of policing is outlined in this 1982 article, and claims that if a window in a building breaks and isn’t fixed then soon all the windows will be broken as it gives the impression that “no one cares”
They then apply this same premise to “disorderly people” — “Not violent people, nor, necessarily, criminals, but disreputable or obstreperous or unpredictable people: panhandlers, drunks, addicts, rowdy teenagers, prostitutes, loiterers, the mentally disturbed”
The idea being that, like the windows, if one “disorderly person” is allowed to exist in an area unchallenged then more will arrive as it’s considered that “nobody cares”.
There is an idea that allowing smaller disturbances leads to bigger crimes but they also state very explicitly that they’re less concerned with whether doing this prevents actual crime but instead with whether it makes people “feel” safer
They also say that things like graffiti and “disorderly people” give the impression that a space is “uncontrolled and uncontrollable, and that anyone can invade it to do whatever damage and mischief the mind suggests.”
Despite not being based on any actual evidence and just the opinions of a couple of policemen, the theories in this article have become so intrinsic to policing tactics that many people see it simply as what policing *is*
Not to mention that whether you feel it’s a good or bad thing that an area doesn’t feel like it’s under control of authorities really depends on what your relationship with those authorities is like
This is one reason why a lot of people are angry at Bristol police’s decision to allow the statue to be pulled down — according to the broken windows theory if we allow small acts of vandalism (and this was indeed small) then people will feel emboldened to move onto bigger ones
However this hasn’t been what happened in practice — I’m sure many believe the Colston statue came down in the midst of hours of rioting, with the city left in ruins, but in reality after it came down protestors just went to the park and listened to some speeches
(a small group of right wing protestors came down after Colston had gone in the river to protect the war memorial next to Colston’s stump, presumably believing they would just start tearing everything down, but the protestors had been around it for hours and they hadn’t even moved the wreaths)
On the other hand, Bristol knows full well what happens when police go full throttle into already tense situations, they learned that from the Stokes Croft riots in 2011
There’s more and more evidence coming to light that the kind of hard line policing that the broken window theory proposes isn’t helpful and that working with communities rather than against them is a much better method for protecting the people they’re supposed to serve.
