Thread by @PeterMoskos

Sure, maybe he was just lucky. But maybe what he did actually worked. Let's learn from success. dallasnews.com/news/commentar…

"García told me the department is every bit as proud of another statistic: “You haven’t seen a spike in arrests.” In fact, arrests have gone down by almost 5%.

“That tells us we are targeting the right individuals — not all individuals,” García said."

Using data to identify historically violent hot spots, García and his command staff deployed officers into specific blocks throughout the city to maintain a visible presence. Every so often, the patrols shift to other crime-ridden grids.

I like the journalistic aside:
"(Here’s a crazy thought: How about if every city department tried this “mini-experiment” data-driven model to better present problems and show results?)"

But here's the problem: Turns out gun offenders aren't racially proportionate to the general population of the city. When NYPD targeted "the right individuals" they were still criticized for racial disparities.

"Better policing doesn’t fix root injustices.... Yet it’s difficult to get businesses to create jobs in neighborhoods when there’s gun violence. It’s next to impossible to get a community focused on education when kids are dying."

"First, you stop the violence."

“It’s often the communities of color that plead with me for more, and are frustrated that I can’t provide them more protection and more officers guarding their neighborhoods,” he said.
“Some people don’t want to hear that, but it’s 100% true.”
Read it all: dallasnews.com/news/commentar…