Broken Windows Policing was non-existent during the Mummers Parade.
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Throughout my adult life in Philadelphia, at one time or another, I’ve seen black people, a good number of them homeless, harassed by police officers for minor offenses, whether it be carrying an open container, loitering in front of a convenience store, or public intoxication.
Though it may appear petty that one must issue a citation or initiate an arrest for those offenses, Philadelphia police officers are required by law to address and mitigate them, as goes the theory of Broken Window Policing: preventing small crimes helps to create an environment of lawfulness, thus severely lowering the probability that more serious crimes will happen.
When asked once whether this theory, which is law in Philadelphia, is effective, Mr. Michael A. Nutter, the outgoing Mayor, said yes. Mr. Nutter, despite the critics, has unapologetically defended his stance on achieving public safety, and he more than likely attributes Broken Windows Policing as a factor to why Philadelphia is safer today than when he took office in 2008, a claim he made Friday afternoon at his last scheduled press conference as the City’s chief executive.
Broken Windows Policing, though Mr. Nutter will never admit it, disproportionately impacts people of color, specifically Blacks and Latinos. Moreover, police officers are less likely to harass white people for engaging in minor offenses in the same manner in which they do their darkened skin counterparts.
For example, today in the City, during the Mummers Parade—a somewhat controversial and racially exclusive (overwhelmingly white) tradition—swarms of police officers ignored public drinking, public intoxication, ethnic intimidation, indecent exposure (citizens urinating on the sidewalk) and littering by mostly white people, though they arrested two black protesters—Mr. Asa Khalif and Ms. Megan Malachi, both members of the Philly Coalition for R.E.A.L Justice—for stepping into the street in an attempt to disrupt the flow of the parade and, near 15th & Market, one white male officer harassed a black male protester for his use of profanity in front of a minor.
Several Philadelphia police officers today confirmed that public drinking and public intoxication is, indeed, illegal, though no justification was given as to why almost every parade viewer on Broad Street engaged in that sort of criminality was ignored by police. Transit officers, my source at SEPTA said, wrote several citations to those spectators who were caught with drinks-in-hand, and couldn’t speak to why Philadelphia police officers engaged in what appeared to be a dereliction of duty en masse.
Though the enabling of public intoxication by law enforcement officers is egregious enough on its own, what’s truly jarring is how little attention was paid by police to the ethnic intimidation happening on the sidewalks of Broad Street in Center City Philadelphia.
In Pennsylvania, a person commits ethnic intimidation if he or she, while committing a crime—in this case, public drinking—makes threats or slurs based on another person’s race; it’s an offense worthy of jail, according to the Pennsylvania Constitution.
There is no justification as to why Philadelphia police officers abandoned their oath to uphold the law. What took place in the City today, though it’s said to happen every year during the Mummers Parade, is a betrayal of a great American value: fairness.
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Keep a look out in January 2016 for an NPR Music documentary starring Grammy Award-Winner Mr. Christian McBride and co-starring Mr. Christopher “Flood the Drummer” Norris.
Thanks for reading. Until next time, I’m Flood the Drummer® & I’m Drumming for JUSTICE!™