The Great Recession and Its Implications for Community Policing

• Publication year: 2010

Georgia State University Law Review

Volume 28 . „

Article 8

Issue 4 Summer 2012

4-3-2013

The Great Recession and its Implications for Community Policing

MatthewJ. Parlow

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Recommended Citation

Parlow, Matthew J. (2011) "The Great Recession and its Implications for Community Policing," Georgia State University Law Review: Vol. 28: Iss. 4, Article 8.

Available at: http://digitalarchive.gsu.edu/gsulr/vol28/iss4/8

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THE GREAT RECESSION AND ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR COMMUNITY POLICING

Matthew J. Parlow*

During the last twenty years, community policing has been the dominant approach to local law enforcement. Community policing is based, in part, on the broken windows theory of public safety. The broken windows theory suggests a link between low-level crime and violent crime—that is, if minor offenses are allowed to pervade a community, they will lead to a proliferation of crime and, ultimately, a community plagued by violent crime. To maintain a perception of community orderliness, many local governments adopted "order maintenance" laws—such as panhandling ordinances and anti-homeless statutes. This emphasis on cracking down on such low-level offenses brought with it an increase in the needs and costs of policing, prosecutions, jails, social services, and other related resources.

When the economy was flourishing, local governments were able to pay for the time- and resource-intensive broken windows approach to community policing. The Great Recession, however, has forced localities to think critically about whether they can sustain these practices given budget cuts. This Article analyzes the effects that the downturn in the economy has had on public safety budgets and the changes that many local governments have made, and are continuing to make, to adjust to decreasing revenue and resources. This Article will also explore proposed changes to the current criminal justice and social service systems that seek cost-effective approaches to

* Associate Dean for Academic Affairs and Associate Professor of Law, Marquette University Law School; J.D., Yale Law School; B.A., Loyola Marymount University. I would like to thank Mary Ellen Archer Lighthiser and the other editors of the Georgia State University Law Review for inviting me to speak at their symposium entitled "The Criminal Justice System in a Time of Economic Meltdown: Crisis or Opportunity for Reform?" as well as for their research and editing assistance; Professor Janine Kim for her comments on an earlier draft of this article; Brian Guyer, Emily Hinkens, Dieter Juedes, Sam Liverseed, and Sarah Matt for their research assistance; and Marquette University Law School for its financial support.

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deliver the same level of public safety to which communities are accustomed. In particular, this Article will assess and evaluate evidence-based decision-making—an emerging trend in some criminal justice systems—as part of an evolving trend driven by the effects of the Great Recession, but also stemming out of community policing. Finally, this Article will use Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, as an example of an evidence-based decision-making approach and explain how it can fulfill the public safety goals of the broken windows theory of community policing while creating a framework that provides for "smart" decision-making that accounts for the financial realities that most cities face.

I. Introduction............................................................................1193

II. Community Policing...............................................................1195

III. Broken Windows Theory.....................................................1198

IV. The Costs of Community Policing.....................................1202

V. Local Government Funding and the Great Recession ...1204

A. Sources of Local Government Funding.............................1204

B. The Effects of the Great Recession on Public Safety Budgets.............................................................................1205

VI. Local Government Responses and an Opportunity

born?.....................................................................................1207

A. Traditional Approaches: Cutting Costs and Raising

Revenue............................................................................1207

1. Reductions in Police Department Workforces.............1208

2. Partnering with Private Security Firms and

Civilianizing Police Work..........................................1210

3. Combining or Regionalizing Police Service................1212

4. Cost-Cutting Measures and New Revenue Sources.....1213

B. Creative Alternatives to Traditional Incarceration...........1216

VII. Evidence-Based Decision-Making and Milwaukee County..................................................................................1223

A. Evidence-Based Decision-Making.....................................1223

B. Questions, Concerns, Criticisms, and Challenges.............1227

C. Milwaukee County: A Leader in Evidence-Based

Decision-Making..............................................................1229

VIII. Conclusion..........................................................................1234

2012] THE GREAT RECESSION 1193

I. Introduction

The last fifteen to twenty years has brought a paradigm shift in local policing efforts—moving from a reactive approach to a proactive one marked by community engagement and problem-oriented policing processes. This shift spawned the rise of community policing as a dominant trend in local policing. community policing is, in part, based on the seminal work of George L. Kelling and James Q. Wilson's Broken Windows¹ The broken windows theory links minor public disorders—vagrancy, public drunkenness, and panhandling, to name a few—to violent crime: If such small offenses are allowed to pervade a community, they will inevitably escalate and lead to a community plagued by violent crime. Building on social psychology theory, the broken windows theory views maintaining a perception of community orderliness—by cracking down on low-level criminal offenses to stop their proliferation or escalation—as central to keeping that community safe. community policing was designed on these premises, and thus many local governments adopted "order maintenance" laws such as panhandling ordinances, anti-gang statutes, anti-homeless statutes, and anti-loitering laws, to take aim at maintaining order in their communities. This focus on low-level offenses led to increases in prosecutions and a demand for attendant needs such as jails, prisons, and other social services related to the criminal justice system. This trend in local policing also coincided with a wave of "tough on crime" political rhetoric and policies.

The Great Recession²—and the related budget deficits faced by many local governments—are forcing local governments³ to think

1. George L. Kelling & James Q. Wilson, Broken Windows, The Atlantic, Mar. 1982, available at http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1982/03/broken-windows/4465/.

2. For the purposes of this article, the term "Great Recession" will refer to the significant economic downturn that affected the United States and global economies beginning in 2007. See generally Catherine Rampell, "Great Recession": A Brief Etymology, N.Y. Times (Mar. 11, 2009, 5:39 PM), http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/11/great-recession-a-brief-etymology/ (detailing the etymology of the term "Great Recession").

3. In this Article, I use the terms local governments, cities, and localities interchangeably to refer to local government entities.

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critically about their commitment to community policing and the costs associated with it. Can this dominant approach to local policing remain intact with the economic realities faced by local governments? Or might new local policing philosophies align with fledgling movements in the criminal justice and social service systems that seek to make difficult but cost-efficient decisions regarding the allocation of scarce resources? This Article explores these questions to determine what changes are in store for local governments due to the current economic crisis and what their implications are for localities. This Article will also examine the proposed changes to the criminal justice and social service systems that seek cost-efficient approaches that hark back to a rehabilitative approach to low-level criminals—in somewhat stark contrast to the "tough on crime" rhetoric that has pervaded the political debate. Finally, this Article will assess and evaluate the broader implications of these coalescing trends on local policing and criminal justice and social service systems.

Part II of this Article provides an overview of community policing, the most prevalent model of policing today. Part III briefly describes the broken windows theory, which serves as a foundational basis for this model of policing. Part IV describes some of the costs of community policing—both for local governments and arrestees. Part V explores how the financial downturn marked by the Great Recession has affected local government funding and describes the difficult funding choices communities face—related to police services and more generally—because of these changed circumstances. Part VI analyzes how cities have responded to reduced funding in both traditional and nontraditional manners. Part VII reflects on how these difficult economic times may provide an opportunity for a more creative, holistic approach to...