Police, Broken Windows and Bad Apples

30 years ago the “Broken Windows Theory” was THE fad in policing.

In short this theory states that minor criminal acts (like broken windows) encourage bigger crimes by signaling that there is no effective control.

There were several early studies that looked like they were proving that. But modern scrutiny hasn’t left a lot of them intact. And scores of other studies have shown no link between smaller and bigger crimes through such a mechanism.

Many (including me) are of the opinion that the theory is based on a mix up of causation and correlation. There are literally hundreds of factors that influence crime. A lot of them are not something you would think of (like lead in paint or noise levels) and that effect human behavior on a general level.

Keep in mind to not confuse the “upgrade” of crimes from small to big ones with “more crimes of the same”.

A broken window does indeed increase the chance for another window to get smashed. And when there is waste on the ground people are more inclined to just drop their waste, too.

This is just the good/bad example. If you have car thieves as the only role model, you are more likely to become a car thief.

I call this the “bad apple syndrome”. If you have a source of spores, then your apples have a higher risk of getting moldy.

And the thing is, that is true for police too.

The bad apples in the police baskets

Sometimes people are surprised on my harsh stance on police behavior. Yes, I know police are just humans and you always have some idiots and some criminals in every group.

But the police is not any group.

If you see a surgeon, who does surgeries on lung cancer every day, smoking like a Mississippi steam boat, you judge him harsher for his smoking habits then Mr. car mechanic. Why? Because, first, the surgeon should know better (as this is his profession and daily view), and second because he should be a good example for his patients.

It is exactly the same for police.

This is why I get angry if I read about one of the many cases where half a dozen police suddenly cannot remember who it was that has done some crime (like kicking someone on the ground in the face) right in front of them.

This is why I get angry when I read about police superiors or -unions hushing up misbehavior of their troops.

A police officer should be hold less responsible for his actions then Average Joe, maybe because he has a stressy job?

No!

If a police officer commits a crime, it is always way more serious then if done by any other person! Not only because of the role model problem, but also because of the simple fact that the eroding impact on society is so much greater. If you can’t trust police to obey the law, then who?

If a crime done by police is hushed up by other police, it is not in any way different to the Mafia’s Omerta – and do we want our police to behave like the Mafia?

And if you hush up things and only use the soft glove for the criminal police officers, then you are breeding new generations of bad cops. This is the bad apple problem. Or as a study puts it: misconduct spreads from officer to officer like an infectious disease. (Chicago cops misconduct study)

Bad behavior of police officers is taught to new police officers, who then do more bad things. Several times more often then other police officers in similar duties. There is only one way to stop this: prevent bad apples to poison the basket.