Broken Windows Theory Works! Sorta. Maybe.
Last night MPD Chief Cathy Lanier hosted her first "Community Book Club Discussion" at the building housing the new Target store in Columbia Heights. If you could tune out the ambient noise from the building atrium, it did look and feel a bit like a bookish gathering: There were a pair of comfy leather chairs for Lanier and the moderator, ABC-7 News anchor Leon Harris, stools for the officers, authors, and activists on the panel, a classy lamp, and nice big leafy plant. I'm not sure if the plant was real or fake, but it's available for $79.99 at Target; the price tag was left on.
The stated goal of the event was to discuss Malcolm Gladwell's books The Tipping Point and Blink, but in truth the evening---attended by roughly 50 people who weren't officially attached with the event or covering it---was mainly an attempt to advocate for broken windows theory (Lanier called it "critical to law enforcement") while brainstorming ideas for community involvement.
For instance, here are a few of discussion questions included in the handout last night:
How do we reach all members of our community to raise the sense of social responsibility when it comes to public safety?
How do we tip community perception of police to one that signifies trust and confidence?
Think of the Connectors, Mavens, and Salesmen you know. How can MPD and other District agencies get to those powerful individuals in your community to help spread their positive messages?
What followed in response to all this was an hour or so of discussion of street-level engagement with drug dealers, trash, and prostitution that produced no useful solutions. (As Harris wisely pointed out, Gladwell's nifty at identifying the "little things" after a change has occurred, but not so helpful when it comes to doing so beforehand.) Neighborhood organizers piped up, and the conversations occasionally got contentious. One woman who said she lives five blocks from the Sixth District station said that her car had been stolen repeatedly in a matter of months, and that residents are intimidated by the kids on the corners.
"Do you talk to them?" one of the panelists offered.
"Don't belittle me, sir," she responded. Of course she talked to them; of course she offered help. Some discussion ensued about energizing neighbors to get involved, but she wasn't having that. "I don't know how you energize people when they feel terrorized," she said.
Photo by Señor Codo
Comments
Leave a Reply
You can follow any responses to this entry through its comments RSS feed.
4:20 pm
I attended the event last night with a friend. We could not wait to see what it would be like. We arrived early enough to see the folks from Target setting up the final touches. Apparently, Target used some of their floor displays to decorate and give the room a book club feel. They did a great job. I think that would explain the price tags, because afterwards, they took the items back to the floor. I thought it was a great idea. Aside from the microphone that did not work longer than 5 minutes at a time, we were very impressed with how the Chief walked into the room and immediately began to talk to everyone.
I have never seen a chief with a book club before. I was impressed with the whole idea. What I can say is that this is a chief who has exposed us to something unique. I hope she continues to hold these types of meetings and hear from all parts of the city on how we feel about crime and how things can change if we change our way of thinking. I am just glad she is an educated person and wants to hear from the residents, because oftentimes, we get to elect people into office and they appoint people, but our opinions are never heard. Never have the ballots asked us what should we do to curtail or address crime.
At the very end of the book discussion, a lady walked in late and made the comments about the guy belittling her. Had she been on time, she would have never used those words, because she would have seen that the guy was a very humble person. The entire time he spoke, he was very humble and gracious. As soon as he offered suggestions to her, she jumped all over him. I was very embarassed for that lady who says she moved here to work for her senator in Detroit.
Anyway, Kudos to the Chief and Hand Spank to the City Paper for not reporting more accurately on how the evening showed us that we have a police department that wants to hear from all of us and is using a book club to encourage us to read and think of new ideas to handle crime. The Broken Windows Theory was just one concept in the Malcolm Gladwell Book.
Keep it up, Chief. Next time, I hope more DC residents will take her up on the offer.
11:15 pm
Chief Lanier is having a book club AND cabs king Leon Swain packs heat? DC is the best.