Reducing Violent Crime.

Quite often we hear that the way to reduce violent crime is to regulate and ban the tools used by the violent criminals. This course of action has been proven over and over again that is is not effective, and does not work. So, what does work? Obviously one of the best ways to reduce violent crime is to isolate the violent criminal from the populace. If the violent criminal is locked up or dead, he can not be assaulting anyone at the mall. Currently, our criminal justice system does not do a very good job of isolating the criminal from society. Our jails and prisons are overcrowded, and our court system is overextended. Plea bargains with reduced sentences are the norm. Many violent criminals never serve their full sentences due to lax parole boards and prison overcrowding.

How can a city, working within the current criminal justice system and without creating new laws, get more violent criminals behind bars and reduce it's violent crime rate?

The answer appears to be an easy one, go back to "old school" policing.

Richmond California is the second most violent city in the nation. Compton, another California city, ranks #1 in violence (Note that the two most violent cities are in a state with very restrictive gun laws). Over this past year, Richmond has made good progress in arresting violent criminals and reducing violent crime.

From the L.A. Times:

A hire that's a cold contrast

By Rone Tempest, Times Staff Writer

RICHMOND, CALIF. — By the summer of 2005, the murder rate in this rough refinery town across the bay from San Francisco had reached the point where the City Council debated declaring a state of emergency.

Richmond's undermanned Police Department had trouble just getting witnesses to come forward, particularly in the tough Iron Triangle neighborhood, where many of the killings took place. In 2005, police made arrests in only 13% of the homicide cases they investigated.

"Somebody got shot and killed and 50 people were watching but 'nobody saw nothing,' " recalled City Councilman Tom Butt, a Richmond architect. The city of 103,000 people was very close to being a place where murder went unpunished.

The city brought in a professional, the police chief of a city with pretty much the lowest violent crime rate in the country, Fargo North Dakota. Fargo has only one homicide in 2006.

A year later, even his initial detractors give credit to the blond son of a university art professor and a piano instructor, whose first act when he moved to Richmond was to buy a home in one of the city's rougher neighborhoods.

Violence continues to plague Richmond, a once-vibrant World War II shipbuilding center with affluent fringe neighborhoods but a deeply depressed central core.

But city officials say Magnus' personal approach has built public trust and dramatically reversed the dismal homicide clearance rate. In 2006, arrests were made in more than half of the city's 40 homicides.

"We still have a long way to go, and we are still very dissatisfied with the amount of violent crime in the community," said City Manager Bill Lindsay. "Having said that, I think Chief Magnus has initiated a turnaround."

Since he took the job in December 2005, Magnus has won broad support for his efforts in identifying individual officers with specific neighborhoods. Citizens are encouraged to call or e-mail officers directly with their problems, which can be as minor as an abandoned car or a broken window.

In July, Magnus reintroduced a classic geographic beat system, dividing the city into three districts and six beats. He made senior officers more personally accountable for what happens on their turf.

"The chief gave us voice mail, e-mail and cellphones," said Police Lt. Mark Gagan. "Instead of calling 911 or the dispatcher, people have started calling us. We've had several cases recently where there has been a shooting or a killing and officers got phone calls from people on their beats telling them who did it or just what people are saying on the street. Some of that information may not be usable in court, but it is enormously helpful in our investigations."

The chief put the cops back on the beat where they belong. Police officers interacting with the community, getting to know the folks on the street, and creating a good bond with the folks. All policing used to be like this, and a return to this method of policing will do a deal of good. Maybe folks like Kathryn Johnston would not be killed by the police if they knew their neighborhoods better. No new gun control laws, no new fancy toys and SWAT teams, just better policing.

The full article is four pages long and can be read here.