Contract with the Community
In 2017, I introduced with the help of my friend Shane Nicholson, the “Contract with the Community,” a 10 item list of simple reforms and ideas intended to bring about a more open, honest and transparent government. Over the coming days, I will be revisiting and updating each of those 10 items. Today we’re on No. 6, “Safer Streets.”
Safer Streets Now!
When Mayor Tom McNamara cruised to victory in 2017, shots were fired in the Rolling Green neighborhood. A 23-year-old woman was shot in the arm.
January 22nd if this year, a 15 year old boy was shot and killed by gang members as he walked down the street.
Public safety has been a central theme each election seasons in Rockford. And our newly elected public servants are always quick to promise safer streets as they’re ushered into office.
Promising Safer Streets Isn’t Enough
Can they deliver? What works? Some people believe more police are needed. Others think more programs and jobs mean less crime. The Brennan Center for Justice’s study, “What Caused The Crime Decline” offers insight.
Let’s begin with what does not work.
The report cites a lack of evidence for increased incarceration as a crime deterrent. “Crime’s responsiveness to incarceration has decreased dramatically over time.” It cites overuse, a criminogenic effect on low level offenders (imprisoned low level offenders graduating to higher level offenses upon release), deteriorating conditions, and lack of effect as reasons why incarceration does not reduce crime rate.
There are those who believe – rightly or wrongly – that the prison system is no longer effective because lawsuits brought by inmates led to cable television and other amenities being provided to inmates. The report did not address changes in the prison system, whether bureaucratic or court ordered, as factors in the effectiveness of incarceration.
Last year, local public safety officials, service providers and residents completed a15 month process generating recommendations to implement a “focused deterrence strategy to address and deter violent crime.” The region received a grant from the Illinois Criminal Justice Authority to form a Criminal Justice Coordinating Council that is operated by the Region 1 Planning Council.
How we Used to Fight for Safer Streets
Winnebago County once had a robust data-proven center called the Resource Intervention Center (RIC). The RIC was utilized as an alternative to incarceration for nonviolent offenders at a higher risk to re-offend with the hope that utilizing RIC resources would eliminate or mitigate the criminogenic effect of incarceration.
Dr. Penny Bilman studied the RIC program through 2014. She notes two keys to the RIC’s success. The first was separating those at a high risk to re-offend from violent offenders. Exposing an individual with a high risk to reoffend to a violent offender is like exposing a person with a compromised immune system to pneumonia. They’re more likely to have a worse case of pneumonia than the average person.
The second key to the RIC’s success was a comprehensive program. If the program could not determine “why the person is doing what they’re doing,” then it could not address those motivations and move forward.
The RIC programs were effective, to the point of saving taxpayer dollars. The budget deficit and shifting priorities moved tax dollars from those programs in 2014 over the my objections and those of Democrat caucus leader Joe Hoffman.
Dr. Bilman also cited the Swift, Certain, and Fair Justice initiatives as a separate alternative for violent offenders.
More Brennan Report Ideas
The Brennan report did cite a few factors which have some effect on reducing crime rate. Unemployment and inflation were shown to have the least effect. Consumer confidence and increased alcohol consumption ranked slightly higher.
Income and police force size were among the highest in this group. When both were higher, crime rates dropped. When they were flat, crime rates were flat. When they fell, crime rates rose.
The research on income’s effect on crime rate will be interesting over the next decade. Researchers should compare the effect on crime rates in states that are increasing the minimum wage against those who do not.
What has reduced the crime rate the most? Bilman’s report found that police departments utilizing Compstat reporting saw the sharpest reductions in crime rate. Compstat stands for computer statistics. It’s a way to map offenses by location. The cities that use Compstat the best, drilling offenses down by location, time, and the officer on duty in that precinct, saw the largest reductions in crime rate.
Thoughts on Safer Streets from the Area’s Top Cops
Winnebago County Sheriff Gary Caruana agrees that safer streets are not only a personnel issue. He says that the officials responsible for public safety need more “tools in the toolbox” and that includes patrol officers and Compstat style programs like ShotSpotter and camera access throughout Rockford.
He is convinced he will need more officers on patrol to get it done. “We can’t run it on overtime continuously. We’ll burn out individuals.”
Rockford Police Chief Dan O’Shea has echoed similar sentiments, calling for increased coverage of cameras and gunshot detection devices in the city. He has continued to push forward with a program to have more officers live in the neighborhoods they police, an initiative that saw positive results in his former jurisdiction of Elgin.
But O’Shea also stresses repeatedly the need for community buy-in. Rockford’s top cop has called on neighbors, parents, teachers and family members to intervene and notify officers if they know a crime has been committed.
Bringing it all Together
Utilizing the right tools, with the right number of officers – while including comprehensive and separate programs for nonviolent offenders with a high risk to reoffend and violent offenders through following in the Swift Certain Justice mold – will make sure we have safer streets in the future.
“This didn’t happen overnight,” O’Shea said of the city’s crime problems. “And there isn’t a snap-your-fingers solution to crime; there never is anywhere.”
He’s right. Which is why public officials should commit to data proven solutions. That’s their part.
And the community should focus on mitigating risk factors for crime like teenage pregnancy, literacy, and drug use. We certainly hope to read detailed reports about the CJCC’s success in deterring crime in our region very soon. In the meantime, need more Big Brothers and Sisters, more mentors, closer neighbors, and more friends in the fight for safer streets.
