We have the right to feel safe
Crime is a concern to us all. Whether we experience a break-in or some form of street harrassment or worse yet violence, it impacts us deeply.
It unsettles our daily life, and can fill us with fear and concern. We have a right to feel safe in our communities.
Sam Seidel
It is small comfort to know that Cambridge saw its lowest crime rate in 40 years in 2006 and had over 50 percent fewer crimes than it had in 1982.
When you’re feeling under threat, it’s hard to see the world any other way.
Last week, the mayor’s Crime Task Force met in City Hall to hear people’s concerns about crime in the city. North Cambridge was highly represented in the group.
They worry that their situation is slipping out of control. One resident described the criminal behavior as “pathological”, distinguishing it from crime that stems out of need.
Police crime statistics indicate that North Cambridge saw more criminal activity on the whole in 2003, though drug incidents were higher in 2006. Nevertheless, perception can in some cases be reality. Security is not just what the statistics tell you. It is how you feel.
Concerns about crime are shaped by some basic societal issues, including class and race.
This point was made very clearly by some participants at the mayor’s Task Force. To paraphrase the thought: Just because they don’t look like you or act like you doesn’t mean that they’re up to no good. It just means that they don’t look like you or act like you.
Building bridges across these divides is of critical importance for everyone, because to wrongly accuse a person based on a prejudice is to commit a wrong.
When the City Council candidates were asked to address issues of crime in a recent forum, I stated that the challenge of crime reduction and prevention is not a question of lack of budgetary resources. My view is that we need a three-pronged approach:
First, flow resources to the geographic area of heightened crime activity. People have a right to feel safe, and I believe quick responses and a heightened police presence can disrupt bad patterns of behavior, and make it difficult for criminal activity to take root (I am thinking particularly of drug activity, which I believe leads to more serious issues).
Second, build back a fabric of community that will resist encroachment by people wanting or willing to commit crimes. Be inclusive in this effort, including police and community leaders, the schools and other institutions, and include the young people. Young people know and understand what’s happening out on the streets a lot better than most adults.
They pick up on signals and nuances that most adults will miss.
Third, reinforce a fundamental commitment to people. All people want to be treated with respect, no matter where they’re coming from. What we demand from ourselves, others must demand from us. We have a right to insist on a basic common respect, a respect which we will practice ourselves. We can respond to behaviors “outside the boundaries” through interdiction and enforcement. But we cannot deny to anyone a fundamental right to have hopes and dreams and aspirations, and we should expect that they are very much like our own.
The policing part of this equation is in many ways easier. Police are trained for the work they do, and they are paid and authorized to do it. The community building part of this work is harder, because we must work to build trust and understanding across social and economic gaps that divide us.
Both have a place in this puzzle, and we must share the challenge to see that both are done responsibly and well.
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