Hat tip to Crime & Consequences blog for the news: http://www.crimeandconsequences.com/2006/08/news_scan_30.html
An excerpt.Kids laud "broken windows"
A group of students attacked by gang bangers last year hail the policing change as crime in the area falls 21.5 percent.
By Christopher N. Osher Denver Post Staff Writer DenverPost.com, August 16, 2006
A year ago, gang members attacked a group of teenage girls leaving soccer practice at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church, stabbing Victor Flores, who rushed to their defense.
On Monday, the girls praised the Denver Police Department for listening to them and implementing "broken windows" policing in their Westwood neighborhood in southwest Denver.
During a news conference in front of the Denver Police Department, the girls and other community activists said the "broken windows" program had been a success and should be expanded to other neighborhoods.
Under the "broken windows" theory of policing, law enforcement officials focus on nuisance and disorder crimes, such as graffiti and public drunkenness, to help empower residents. The theory holds that residents will feel safer and reclaim an area if police tackle such crimes.
Teresa Chavira, 17, who attends the church and who saw the knife attack a year ago, said that event marked a turnaround for Westwood.
"We became tired of being victims and being seen as uninterested residents," she said. "We were tired of being afraid to walk our streets."
She said Flores, now 20, has since recovered from his nine knife wounds. Westwood also has begun to recover, with crime on the decline, she said.
After the attack, the girls formed a group known as the St. Anthony Public Safety Committee. The girls worked with Mateos Alvarez, organizer of the Metro Organizations for People, who knew about the "broken windows" policing theory from his contacts with Shepard Nevel, who had worked in former Mayor Wellington Webb's administration.
Under the guidance of Alvarez, the girls researched the program on the Internet and gave a community presentation in November to about 150 residents and city officials.
Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper also was moving independently of the girls to address a slumping arrest rate by Denver police. The mayor was negotiating a contract with a New Jersey-based consulting team led by George Kelling, an early pioneer of the "broken windows" theory whom the mayor wanted to push police reform in Denver.
After the contract was finalized, the girls met with the mayor and asked him to make the Westwood neighborhood a pilot project, and the city eventually did so.
Crime in Westwood declined 21.5 percent during the first five months of this year compared with the same time frame last year. Throughout the entire city, crime declined 7.4 percent during the same period. District 4 police Cmdr. Rudy Sandoval said citizen complaints against police did not increase in Westwood.
