Quote:
Originally Posted by Architype
You can't just draw a direct line of causation between beat cops, or lack thereof, and the nadir of American cities. There are many other things to be considered overall in a rapidly changing world. How can you say that the integration of local policing and community involvement is a negative?
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I wasn't saying that. Actually, "beat cops" weren't a new thing in the 70s in the US. It was the continuation (in the final phase it seems) that had existed for decades or centuries - cops regularly patrolling city neighbourhoods on foot.
But as Rousseau correctly says, there are obviously other factors at play in the crime explosion in the US - a baby boom accompanied by the breakdown of the nuclear family and more absentee fathers, huge demographic shifts in cities, lead poisoning affecting young people's brains (look it up), proliferatio of guns, drug epidemics, etc.
The idea that so many cops got into cars and off the streets is also a factor for sure, though in the 70s and 80s you still had beat cops on the street way more than you do today.
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