From: rick@crick.ssctr.bcm.tmc.edu (Richard H. Miller)
Newsgroups: alt.politics.clinton,alt.politics.bush,talk.politics.misc
Subject: Re: Clinton's S.S. (was National Police Force)
Date: 15 Aug 1992 19:45:07 GMT
Followup-To: alt.politics.clinton,alt.politics.bush,talk.politics.misc

In article <sd6mm_a.crisp@netcom.com>, crisp@netcom.com (Richard Crisp) writes:
> All of this talk about Clinton's National Police Force and his plans for
> disarming us of our assault weapons, the only weapons protected by the 
> Constitution, reminds me an awful lot of Adolf Hitler, his SS and the
> mesmerization of the German people during his intitial rise to power.
> 

Well, as far as Clinton's National Police Force, what I have read and seen
posted is a national force expousing the current fad in police work. He 
proposed a force to do community policing, alternate drug treatment center
and boot camps. Of these three items, Houston has had two in place.

1) Community policing - this type of policing is designed to get the cops out
of the cars and into the neighborhoods. The theory is to decentralize the
force and have officers interact with the community and become part of it 
rather than a group of people who ride around in cars and have no part of
the community. Depending on how its implemented, it can work but the current
praticioners seem to go overboard in the community aspects over the enforcement
aspects. In Houston, the two previous chiefs were true believer's in this 
concept. Brown went to NYC as commissioner but his successor [Betsy Watson]
was replaced, IN PART, because the implementation of community policing took
precendence over handling calls for help; there were several reports that HPD
officers were prohibited from responding to 911 calls if there were involved
with community policing activities. (There were other reason involved in the
nature of Houston politics which are not relevant to a world-wide group). In
any case, community policing if implemented correctly, does have potential.
The aspects which remain, such as the storefront police stations, have had a
positive impact on Houston. I would be apprehensive on a national police force
based on community policing since I believe the worst aspects would be imposed.
Good implementation requires knowledge of the community and active interaction
with it, something lacking in a Federal police force

2) Boot camps - This is a program which takes young first-time offenders and
puts them through a military-style 'boot-camp'. It tries to give them some
self-estime and does remove them from exposure to repeat offenders. In Houston,
it does seem to work; the rate of recividism for boot-camp 'graduates' seems to
be significiantly lower than other programs. Again, it is a type of alternative
sentencing option which needs significiant local control and I would be 
hesitant to trust a Federal bureuocracy to implement it.


In summary, the plan talks a good game but the ideas should not be implemented
at the Federal level; this is something which must be kept at the local level
to be effective. I am afraid that a national program will become just another
way to provide theorists money to implement their ideas with any firm local
control.

-- 
Richard H. Miller                 Email: rick@bcm.tmc.edu
Asst. Dir. for Technical Support  Voice: (713)798-3532
Baylor College of Medicine        US Mail: One Baylor Plaza, 302H
                                           Houston, Texas 77030
Newsgroups: alt.politics.clinton,talk.politics.guns