George Kelling, co-creator of the "Broken WIndows" thesis, dies

I'd been taking a break from the computer for the last couple weeks and during that time, Professor George Kelling, co-creator of the "Broken Windows" approach to order/disorder/crime, died.

-- "George L. Kelling, a Father of 'Broken Windows' Policing, Is Dead at 83," New York Times
-- "George Kelling: A Visionary of Public Order," City Journal

I was reminded of Kelling by a new article in The Atlantic, "Did Cellphones Bring Down Crime Rates in the '90s?," hypothesizing that one of the reasons for the crime drop in the 1990s was due to the impact of cell phones on drug sales by making them less turf (geographically) specific, reminds me.

Kelling wrote with James Q. Wilson, based on an experiment in Newark, New Jersey, where they figured out that disinvested property (houses, cars, etc.) contributed to more disinvestment and in turn, crime. By "fixing broken windows" crime escalation was dampened.

-- "Broken Windows," The Atlantic, 1982
-- "Making Neighborhoods Safe," The Atlantic, 1989

The cell phone thesis is interesting, because I am not completely sold on the hypothesis that much of the crime drop was due to increased citizen involvement, such as that laid out by Patrick Sharkey in Uneasy Peace, which has its roots in "collective efficacy" theory. Yes, that helped. But it wasn't enough.

Guns and bullets often trump protest.

Unfortunately, in practice "Broken Windows" became what is called "Zero Tolerance Policing," which makes sense at some level because police officers are trained to use force, not be "Civic Action Officers" (cf. military pacification programs).

And even the earliest interpretations of the writings focused on the policing aspect rather than  dealing with disinvestment/nuisances.


Anti-policing initiatives haven't taken hold as much in DC compared to other cities, although there is a current schism between the police department and the Executive branch in DC versus the legislative branch, on these kinds of issues ("D.C. police chief says critical council hearing 'emboldened' drug dealers," Washington Post).

As a result, many academics and others have sought to discredit the approach ever since.

More recently, I've come to believe that the best approach is a combination of Broken Windows and collective efficacy + way more training for police officers + a greater focus on directed problem solving as a structural approach + approaches that aren't just about more policing.

But my experiments with litter picking and other stuff back when I lived in the H Street neighborhood c. 2000 convinced me that Broken Windows was on the right track.

That places where properties were vacant and unkempt, crime flourished. When you picked up litter, less trash was deposited. When alleys were kept up, less trash was dumped illegally. That one way streets made it easier to deal drugs. Etc.

At the same time, focused enforcement needed to be applied to dampen crime. And more innovative programs too, like the Community Safety Partnership in Los Angeles.

-- "Broken windows/collective efficacy: Baltimore; Newark; Grand Junction, Colorado; Pittsburgh; Albany," 2019
-- "Resource: Center for Problem-Oriented Policing at Arizona State University," 2019
-- "Revisiting intimate partner abuse/murder," 2017
-- "The state of "broken windows" versus "problem oriented policing" strategies in 2016: Part 1, theory and practice," 2016
-- "The state of "broken windows" versus "problem oriented policing" strategies in 2016: Part 2, what to do," 2016
-- "Los Angeles police department "Community Safety Partnership"," 2014
-- "Night-time safety: rethinking lighting in the context of a walking community," 2014
-- "Policing: escalation vs. de-escalation," 2014
-- "Crime prevention through environmental design and repeated burglaries at the Naylor Gardens apartment complex," 2013