A Greensboro cop on crime and common sense
posted: December 17, 2007 | category: Uncategorized
tags: crime, Greensboro, police
I talked to a cop friend about the Dec. 11th emergency City Council meeting, which focused on violent crime in Greensboro, and about the media and blog response that has followed.
First, I asked him about the major drop in the number of homicides in 2004, and whether or not that was connected to the presence of a team of federal agents who came to Greensboro as a part the U.S. Justice Department’s Violent Crimes Impact Teams Initiative.
His response:
“Crime in the neighborhood is directly related to how visible the police are. That goes into your numbers. Where do most crimes occur? Where the police aren’t. [In 2004] there was more visibility. People were more cautious. That had an impact on the numbers.”
With that in mind, I asked what, in his opinion, as a long-time officer, was the number one thing that could be done to reduce violent crime in our city?
His response:
“Increase the number of officers on the force and increase police presence on the street.”
He noted that both the population and the geographical area of Greensboro have increased, but the size of the police department has not kept pace.
Then I asked him about juveniles. During the emergency Council meeting, Chief Bellamy discussed the problem of juvenile offenders.
My cop friend’s response:
“Who is ultimately responsible for juveniles? The mommas and the daddies. That’s where the problem lies. Years ago, if a kid misbehaved, a neighbor would snatch them up and discipline them. Now, that neighbor would get arrested for doing that. ‘That’s my kid, you don’t the right to discipline them.’ Same with the minister, same with the bus driver, same with the schools. The schools can’t discipline. You go to the office, you go to time out. You can’t expel them for any length of time. They don’t expel them for the school year, just send them to another school. ‘I don’t like this school, I’ll just get sent to another one.’”
“[Juveniles] commit crimes and get held by the officer until the parents pick them up. If it’s not a serious offense, then it’s not until the third or fourth time that they really do anything about it, and then it’s a long process to do the paperwork to put them in detention. So there’s no cause and effect for the kid.”
“Parents will say, ‘Don’t do that or the cops are going to arrest you,’ instead of the parents instilling that discipline themselves and teaching responsibility. If you grew up in an environment where it was OK to steal, then [when you get charged,] rather than seeing it as discipline for going against a moral code, you see it as harassment for living your lifestyle. [Cops are] dealing with people who don’t think their behavior is wrong.”
“You can’t teach somebody morality at that age. By the time they’re a teenager, they either know it or they don’t. A majority of them will relearn it from reciprocity. They’re self-taught. ‘If I do this, I will get this result.’ Others won’t learn it. ‘I’ve always done this, so it’s right. They’re not going to tell me I can’t do something.’”
“We’re dealing with kids who were abused and abandoned. A lot of them become the repeat and violent offenders. They’ll tell you, ‘I grew up thinking it was OK to steal. If I didn’t steal, I didn’t eat.’ Their morality is ‘I take what I want.’ Not just what I need. What does this society teach? Our society teaches us to get our wants met. This is a consumer-based society. That’s what the entertainment industry is doing. Do I need a phone with a camera? No, but everybody’s got them. It’s not, ‘What I need to survive.’ It’s: ‘I need what I want.’ It’s becoming acceptable [to think this way.] ‘Do what I need to get what I want.’ It’s not a cause and effect process. They know they can get away with it.”
“They’re not learning responsibility. It’s a parent’s job to teach morality. But if a kid hasn’t learned morality at home by the age of 9 or 10 years old, you’re going to have a hard time teaching it to them. Society has changed. There are lots of single parents, or two-parent households with both parents working. Kids are watching TV or hanging out with friends watching TV at their house. And TV is teaching them what is an ‘acceptable morality.’ You put it in their head over and over and they’re going to believe that’s acceptable. It’s just common sense.”
Common sense… and wisdom.
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2 Responses to “A Greensboro cop on crime and common sense”
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You know he’s right, I know he’s right and most of the citizens of Greensboro know he’s right so why can’t our elected leaders and high ranking appointed leaders get their tiny minds around the problem? Because the problem hasn’t gotten into their own fat wallets– yet.
I agree with everything that he said, but there’s no clear, quick or easy solution to the problems that he describes.
What do you do about parents who can’t or won’t teach morality to their children? What do you do with their children? (I don’t know…)
Releasing delinquent kids to irresponsible parents is a fundamentally flawed idea. What is a better alternative? (I know that there must be one…)
There are no easy answers. I believe that what we need is societal change, societal transformation — from the inside. I think that we need a spiritual revival in this country. I don’t know of anything other than the power of God’s Holy Spirit that could change the kids, the parents and the culture.
I don’t think that “tiny minds” or “fat wallets” are the problem. I think that maybe nobody knows exactly where to start…