For decades, a 50-block area in downtown Los Angeles known as Skid
Row has been a hub for shelters and social services for homeless and
extremely poor people, the majority of them Black. Now, amid rapid-fire
gentrification of the downtown area, city leaders have implemented a
police crackdown on Skid Row that has resulted in the harassment,
arrest and displacement of thousands of poor people of color.The
LAPD’s “Safer Cities Initiative,” launched on Skid Row last summer, is
based on the “broken windows” theory of law enforcement, which holds
that small signs of “disorder” (graffiti, broken windows, people
hanging out on the sidewalk) invite more serious crimes to a
neighborhood and should be eliminated. Critics of the theory note its
historical use to justify law-enforcement crackdowns on members of
marginalized communities—especially poor people of color—who are
disproportionately targeted for petty crimes. “‘Broken windows’ gets
couched in this almost-neutral language about ‘signs of disorder’,”
says Kristian Williams, author of a history of modern U.S. policing
called Our Enemies in Blue, “but the things that get counted
as ‘signs of disorder’ tend to be signs of poverty. What the theory is
doing is reading poverty as disorder and using those ‘signs of
disorder’ as an excuse to bring additional police attention and
additional sanctioning to areas where poor people live.” SOURCE OF THIS STORY
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LAPD Gentrifies Skid Row
For decades, a 50-block area in downtown Los Angeles known as Skid
Row has been a hub for shelters and social services for homeless and
extremely poor people, the majority of them Black. Now, amid rapid-fire
gentrification of the downtown area, city leaders have implemented a
police crackdown on Skid Row that has resulted in the harassment,
arrest and displacement of thousands of poor people of color.The
LAPD’s “Safer Cities Initiative,” launched on Skid Row last summer, is
based on the “broken windows” theory of law enforcement, which holds
that small signs of “disorder” (graffiti, broken windows, people
hanging out on the sidewalk) invite more serious crimes to a
neighborhood and should be eliminated. Critics of the theory note its
historical use to justify law-enforcement crackdowns on members of
marginalized communities—especially poor people of color—who are
disproportionately targeted for petty crimes. “‘Broken windows’ gets
couched in this almost-neutral language about ‘signs of disorder’,”
says Kristian Williams, author of a history of modern U.S. policing
called Our Enemies in Blue, “but the things that get counted
as ‘signs of disorder’ tend to be signs of poverty. What the theory is
doing is reading poverty as disorder and using those ‘signs of
disorder’ as an excuse to bring additional police attention and
additional sanctioning to areas where poor people live.” SOURCE OF THIS STORY
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LAPD Gentrifies Skid Row
For decades, a 50-block area in downtown Los Angeles known as Skid Row has been a hub for shelters and social services for homeless and extremely poor people, the majority of them Black. Now, amid rapid-fire gentrification of the downtown area, city leaders have implemented a police crackdown on Skid Row that has resulted in the harassment, arrest and displacement of thousands of poor people of color.The LAPD’s “Safer Cities Initiative,” launched on Skid Row last summer, is based on the “broken windows” theory of law enforcement, which holds that small signs of “disorder” (graffiti, broken windows, people hanging out on the sidewalk) invite more serious crimes to a neighborhood and should be eliminated. Critics of the theory note its historical use to justify law-enforcement crackdowns on members of marginalized communities—especially poor people of color—who are disproportionately targeted for petty crimes. “‘Broken windows’ gets couched in this almost-neutral language about ‘signs of disorder’,” says Kristian Williams, author of a history of modern U.S. policing called Our Enemies in Blue, “but the things that get counted as ‘signs of disorder’ tend to be signs of poverty. What the theory is doing is reading poverty as disorder and using those ‘signs of disorder’ as an excuse to bring additional police attention and additional sanctioning to areas where poor people live.” SOURCE OF THIS STORY
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