America Street, U.S.A.; 5; Crime and police in America

America Street USA. A series of programs produced by Radio Station JF Jacey FM at Foothill College Los Altos California and I think this is really hard to believe you. I don't know. People are going to be more of the you know wish it were. Well I think you're way in the city of Sunnyvale California. Oh there is a street named America street. Families of many different backgrounds live on the street and in the immediate neighborhood. It's a melting pot of America in miniature. One of the feelings the attitudes the texture of life on America street what do these Americans think about America as it is today. For if we are to approach the reality of the American experiment in democracy we must know

understand and respond to the opinions of America St.. We ask you to imagine that you are overhearing a discussion among the residents of America straight as occasionally compared and contrasted with an informed opinion from other sources. Today's topic crime and police in America. With you. Us. See this generation. Thank you very much for to get. In here. It's. Just this. Current statistics indicate that crime rates are rising in America

while there may be some controversy about the exact meaning of crime rate statistics there can be no doubt of that. Criminal behavior is a serious problem. We asked several questions about the meaning of criminal behavior in America. Does it to for example indicate a decline in moral values as well as the obvious question what should be done about it. We also asked some questions about our first line of defense against criminal behavior of the police. Are they doing their job or on the other hand do the police themselves sometimes misbehave. For example by engaging in harassment of citizens. To Brett another side to some of our questions we asked a local police captain to comment. Speaking from the point of view of a professional man dealing with the problem of criminal behavior it should be pointed out that other professional persons in fields such as social work psychiatry and political science might disagree with some of the opinions expressed by police officers. First the opinions of America St..

How do you know anything about the rising crime in this country some. Say this. Might be a declining you know these things are going down you know you feel that this is true. There was a recent article. I read believe lives in the area. Where the statistics this very few do as Mr. Hoover's ideas of present day show that the crime rate of your browser is increasing that the threat is facing say things to adults trend of adult crimes committed by adults is increasing. At certain types of crime is that the trend is up. And this fellow said that if Mr. over is correct that then there will be a person in the United States who is the police that are jailers out of 20 years.

I'm not sure anymore whether the mystics that you speak of are accurate are police captain Cummins. I don't see how an individual citizen who is not exposed to. Police work or. Accumulating statistics on crime could give a correct reflection on just what that crime rate is or whether it's real or imagined whereas police officials are in that business they're professional people. Who have set standards on unifying foreign crime reporting which is to say that this year we report the same kinds of statistics reported to us by citizens as we did yet last year. I mean we handle those numbers the same way from year to year. The felonies. Are probably the most accurate statistics that you can

get. Because a felony is something that to people is one of the severe crimes that people are more readily willing to contact the police or perhaps if you lost your bicycle or something you might not or a hard off the bicycle or the hubcap you might not but if your house was broken into. Your car stolen your mother raped or whatever you would you would call the police so those are accurate statistics. Most people are naive because they're not directly exposed. And I think they're more naive in the suburbs than they are in a big city in the suburbs. The people come home at 5 o'clock step into the reverse floorplan. And close the front door and live off the patio with a barbecue pit and a drink in their hand in their own little world and they're not really directly affected with crime that's not their not their business.

Now back to America's streets. Well. I'll tell you. I wouldn't be surprised if that were true. I mean if those back were turned out to be true. You get more people more crowded more press services begin to break down in the dark. Boils down to the same thing. The latest now some comments by a police captain from a community near America St.. Do you think this is the ease on down down fall and decline. Some people say the Roman Empire were just so rich and so well off they were just drinking wine and wheezed in ways we did mean ways of Burns No no I don't take or anything anywhere near that. There's too many responsible people around I think that people who react that way are all reacting to the squeaky wheel that many times is referred to as getting your oil.

The people you don't hear from are the backbone of the community. You can look down almost any street and see a nice nicely kept street with nice kept houses that are occupied by people who go to work every day who vote as often as they can think about it and who try their damndest to stay inside the law so that you never hear from those people. But the minute some small percentage of their size are going to raise havoc or drop out on drugs. You you hear from them the drug problem. Maybe it's the drug problem hadn't come along. These people who are inclined to use drugs would have found some other way to drop out from society. Perhaps an evolutionist is a way to handle our population problem I don't know. But I think we're in good shape.

We return to America St.. If you were going to the raising grocery looking or the recent years it was a sign United States is in decline. It's a good Roman society. They got a right to do in which you see. Well it's possible I don't think we in our own time and savings thing with the perspective. But I think it's also possible that we're having that kind of. Moral recession and that is. Always true during the war. And probably much more true kind of. I don't think it represents the. Decline of this country and I think we're too young a country to be put in that category. When you think of The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire that was over a period of 500 years. We're not even 200 years ago because everything is at a much faster pace

for shit that go along with change to get reaction from a certain amount of immorality in the world itself conducting war. The cleric was like a. Man many to talk to kids see a lot of destruction and that of course TV shows him saying. I think all of this is going to turn their burden on the. Police teaching. Children. So I think the.

Great. Leader you. Get. From the. Younger generation. We are going down here. History repeats itself. I hate to say this. But. Look back in history books at the Roman Empire they were a great nation. They had an emperor. They had at the world a third of the world and. Around the world the place where the room was in worship. And. You take your take on it. On Sundays where we.

Become is such a madhouse of watching football games and packing the wrong things. The same thing would have been done to Roman Empire the gladiators were pitched against the Lions. People said in the. Coliseum and watch all of this and so Wilbon just like. We were living in the days of like wrong with living before. Declining crime. So we have to watch it this is a we're rich we're reaching the height. And the one thing that we that we seem to forget and worry about. We were. We were about. We were about the world. But. We have to realize that. United States is almost like and have a delicious apple. And when you speak of internal strife and crumbling a worm never from the outside in the OSI from the inside out. We are slowly decaying to be rotten as a core. So this is what I'm saying why crime rate because there's so much unrest so great unemployment no skills for

the young. You probably will get down to this your drug problem and things like that this is what caused the crime rate. But there again it's just what I had said previously you asked me a question about Southeast Asia. They have and have not nations of the world we have the same class of people the haves and the have nots. So they're dissatisfied so they're going to take from the people that have this crease of a chaos condition. So we have many many problems we have to solve So this is why we have such a high crime rate and. I feel that though a lot of times you know that. That does the television have shills have shown so much of that have live in gambling in big homes and sports cars is always deteriorated the people man from really all of the decent job and really taken care of their families the fast life now so we're limiting these problems and we have to accept them but this is one of the reasons why we have such a high crime rate because the people are on the move people have taken more people up back and more people

have more money to spend and those that look like coppers. So why should they have this week to this guy get it take it take it from him so this is why we had a high crime rate. Some further remarks by the police captain why do you think there is a rise in crime rate when there's so much affluent city. In this nation today especially in the suburbs other than outside almost coming in white. Well outside of narcotics. I think it's basic human nature to. Want more than you have. To get something for nothing. And the. Percentage is the percentage of individuals who would perhaps step over the line. It's often said to be about 2 percent. OK. Now when you dealing

with the with the crime rate you're dealing with units and units can be measured in terms of percentages so if you have more units this year than you had last year you have a higher percentage of crime. With population. With the growth growth in the suburbs than you have if population grows in a certain area to a certain extent that 2 percent of the population is going to increase numerically and perhaps this might account for the population. I think respect for law and order perhaps has a lot to do with it. I think there's so many different reasons that you just can't set down and categorically say this is black and this is white. But. I think basic human nature is our major failing in a lot of areas.

Once again the opinions of America's streets. I still think that the police can. Do a better job and I think it's last. But then the community itself. City council the chief of the police and then the public relations for all the cities in America they have a man on there they really understand the problems of the black and white race not just one segment. This is where I hang up if we need a good public relations man and this is one of the main calls that the police now they have a job to do but they're let They're not looked on in a more respectable citizen. But after an hour an hour of me. And a. Lot of people now get to the place where they say what you define the word law and order you mean someone else write the law and or end a piece of the law order to carry out the law. So this is why I say that we need to have we need to have we have dedicated man but I think that all the policeman needer needer need a strong course in human

relations. I think the Black Panthers have. Had a I guess convention or organization meeting up in Oakland he said as they recommended that the policeman on the beat live in the neighborhood or the district in which he patrols. Would you recommend such a thing to help understand. Yes I think so if you take if you take a lot of the ghetto areas in America. Most of the time the police live outside of that area he's only of that area and only doing his 2 hour of 8 hour duty so he really don't have a good side of the problems of the area. Now he lived in the area he would understand the area better and you see when you have a person in there outside of it he commutes daily and into this area. He leaves the area. Then when there's a gun then he talks about the high crime rate there snapped and was not. He doesn't really understand people see that that's one of the fellows one of the hang up we have whether it be the policeman wanted to be the social worker or any other person that's trying to help the ghetto areas he himself must live

in the area to really understand the social needs. You see these people live in those areas that won't be classified as something in the zoo that outsiders come in and look at the look of it all. How can you say it really is if you're going to help when you come in and with a $200 suit. A big fancy car thing you can use it you got to come in and help. But yet you don't live in the area because there were but you heard about the police. So you have to get you have to live there you have to have the feeling you have to have that dated back date granted that human suffering of getting up having just a little bit to eat can't find work are living in the house whether rats a bagnio basically a kid locally grounds no facilities what the other areas of our planning urban cities have. So you see this is what I'm saying that that's where I stand at the policeman the social work of the jurors. The city officials the mayor never all of these people have a need to have a they have a crack at it. If they say they understand what can I do. But

you must live in there in that environment you must associate yourself with in order to truly understand it. Do you think the policeman would ever have to fear retaliation let's say there was a disturbance like a family disturbance or something he came to break it up where help. Would be after you think. If you did live in you would ever have to really fear retaliation from the neighborhood for for breaking and disturbances like NULL but if you lived out of the area then he would run into a lot of retaliation a lot more a lot more because he doesn't leave because he doesn't live in the area where he made what right do you have to come in here and meddling in our fares when you don't live here and you don't have no insight on why it started and how it will be ended. You see I think the feller that lives outside the area have more retaliation problems then the person that's lived in the area. I think a place for this kind of stuff we have PCs or. Property. Brits are one of. Them. He's only got one job. That's the brand the phone the director

the one who's known for it's not supposed to have to psychoanalyze him and find out his father. Who. Was once hired by a white man or. Her that his sister was attacked by a black man. I don't I don't get this. This. Relationship that the police are supposed to have to the area that there really. I mean if you're trying I'm just placing an honest law enforcement there their job is that it's their job. And they're not supposed to legislate or form any judicial opinions. They're here and they're really they are an enforcement group. I'm you know I feel that the rising crime is due to the to the to the rise in the number of acquittals. As far as the cases are concerned I'm glad to keep believing about the death penalty for certain crimes that have to be pretty bad.

It was but I am an advocate of I don't I don't I say don't get rid of it until such time as there's an equal penalty they'll make that person suffer as much as he let somebody else suffer until a time comes when when the law gets back on the side of the law instead of always on the side of the defendant. You're always going to have people who say our guy are going to do a slap my wrist let me go why don't I go and rob that store or rape that girl or steal it from that guy or break into his house at night. If I do get caught it just there's probably a loophole I get out of because nowadays if I were if I were put the position of having to do this because I was too poor to support myself or because I was just that type of person I would worry a bit about it. I really wouldn't because if you get caught you get caught and in this day and age the laws are so situated in a police policeman's hands so tight as far as what he can do in apprehending the person when he can finally have friends and everything else that it's ridiculous that it seems to be true I think I realize that the

the you know given everything right his purpose proper by our Constitution but the loopholes in the way the Tiber the place was held as far as I just seems like to me that that in making our own laws to protect the people would not protect her. I don't think I was really protecting people. Final word from the police captain you know what I think of course and I have to stop and say All right what is the rising crime rate where is the disrespect. If you start talking about malicious damage to public buildings then I think you can perhaps turn around and or really say this is because they are rebelling against society and all the facade that society has shown them in they've overreacted. They're saying to society we want everything right not only a percentage of it right but 100 percent right and by God you're going to give it to us or we're going to burn your building down. And there's human nature working again you see. They're overreacting to what they think.

Is wrong. And in doing so they're doing probably perhaps more wrong than they would if they looked they tried to deal with it coolly and didn't expect 100 percent goodness for all other people accepting them so. And so when you talk about rising crime rate I suppose you'd have to sit down and look at it categorically from burglaries and kinds of burglaries and try to relate it to a given area because in a given area might be. You might have a large narcotics problem where your freeway would lead to two upper middle class town I'd say. And they see this is a beautiful place to knock off in another area. It might be for some other reason. It might be just got a bunch of hoods about. So I think that you have to stop and say there are many many many causes. And we have many many many faults. But then

we got the best thing going at least we're honest enough to report it. You do experience and we are not personal to have you known about any or even personally experienced any organized crime in the suburban area you deal with. No I think this area has grown so quickly from orchards in small towns. And it has grown with people who have been professional kind of people. Who really sincerely tried to put together a government in each of the cities and in the county it would be a good honest straightforward government. And it's gone so quickly that your crooked politician or person who might be inclined to be a crooked politician hasn't really got time hasn't had the time to get firmly entrenched. Perhaps like back east in some of the larger cities back there where it's been a tradition that this machine would put their individual in and as

tradition has gone through the years that person would have to appoint a certain number of friends from the machine and the cops would go along with the whole thing. There are still cities back there one when a political regime changes the whole police force or the whole sheriff's department changes. We don't have that here because I think it's because of the explosion and because of the kind of people with the general intent that they had to do it. Good to have good zoning regulations to put together law enforcement organizations that have been. At least exposed it to education and all of all of these things are going hand in hand I think we're extremely lucky to conclude the opinions of America's streets or the police in the city. They do a pretty good job in this city you know. I guess if you're in general if you really do have made some mistakes.

I haven't had much experience really until recently in dealing with. Things but they seem to be well as well as a mortal man can. I think that. A person can become a little patient with those that are that are nicotine of police. The police certainly are some number of police forces. I know from actual fact part of the Second World War the Los Angeles police situation in some areas they don't talk about what they were what it was doing to the Jews it was emotional issues with some of the last thing the police were doing and I know this for a fact this is not just your show. In any group you're going to get it you're going to get some bad apples this is not to say

that the police shouldn't make every effort to bring them out. They should we should get rid of the revolution possible. On the other hand I often think the question arises in my mind of those who who who find nothing good in the police. So those big oh what would they do with the face of the stuff they don't know how or what would happen. Where do they think they would be if the California Highway Patrol on our strike at midnight on Sunday was you know the slaughter on the highways out here nobody around to pick up the pieces. I have what I think you know watching my kids or I try to tell me how does a placement on a car because you're not across the street. Talk. To me for dining out across the street and I don't really exist. Telling your children who blindly obey a militant force that. I don't know. Whether the police are right or wrong with the system is right or wrong if you happen to have some authority.

In existence and the policeman has the authority. I think there probably are some police officers who maybe get impressed with their self a sense of power I suppose. Maybe get a little bit aligned. I would say I've never really seen it and I mean do you know from what you see and hear and read they probably have a lot to put up with too I think they have a lot of harassment or you might experience with a place in this area that is very unfortunate I found it very and very stupid. This has been America Street USA one of a series of programs investigating what Americans think about America as it is today produced under a grant from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting by Jeff Osborne had a radio station gay FJC FM Foothill College Los Altos California. The interviews were conducted by Robert Wheeler narration and technical production by

Bob Burke's dresser and the executive producer was Professor Stuart ROWE This is the national educational radio network.