Readers Not Interested in Poll on Hot Spot Policing
Only ten votes in Sunday’s poll, less than a third of the usual number. This could be because 1) I moved the poll location from the sidebar to the body post, 2) because of the topic/phrasing, or 3) a combination.
Q: How effective is “Hot Spot Policing”?
- Somewhat good 5 [33.33%]
- Good 3 [20%]
- TIE 2 [13.33%]
- Somewhat poor
- Unsure/No Answer
- Very poor
- Neutral 1 [6.67%]
- TIE: 0 [0%]
- Poor
- Very good
I have no insight into the question, but “Hot Spot Policing” doesn’t seem to address the root causes of much of our crime in the areas targeted. Some headlines this year:
- January: St. Louis takes another shot at hot-spot policing
- February: Hot spot policing effort starts in Dutchtown, Gravois Park neighborhoods
- March: Hot spot policing efforts start today in north city
- April: Police target south St. Louis neighborhoods in hot spot policing effort
- May: Police target five north St. Louis neighborhoods in hot spot policing effort
- July: St. Louis reaches 93 homicides for 2015
Perhaps crime would be worse if hot spot policing wasn’t used? We shouldn’t continue ignoring the root causes though.
— Steve Patterson
Urbanists don’t like to deal with messy issues like crime. They’re more interested in clean issues like design of new buildings and public transit. Issues dealing with the problems of the dirty city are hard to answer.