page_title: Manhattan Institute for Policy Research
section_title: Community policing: the "broken windows" method
hierarchical_section_title: Manhattan Institute for Policy Research / Policy positions and initiatives / Community policing: the "broken windows" method
caption_attribution_description: English: George Kelling stands with leaders of the Detroit Police Department and other local officials at a press conference in 2013. The Department partnered with Manhattan Institute for new ways to protect the neighborhoods in the area.
context_page_description: The Manhattan Institute for Policy Research is a conservative 501 non-profit American think tank focused on domestic policy and urban affairs, established in New York City in 1977 by Antony Fisher and William J. Casey. The organization describes its mission as to "develop and disseminate new ideas that foster greater economic choice and individual responsibility". Its message is communicated through books, articles, interviews, speeches, op-eds, and through the institute's quarterly publication City Journal. In general, the Manhattan Institute promotes free-market economics.
context_section_description: The institute has pioneered reforms in policing, most notably the use of community policing methods and more specifically quality-of-life policing, also known as "broken windows theory" after the landmark 1982 Atlantic Monthly article "Broken Windows" by James Q. Wilson and George L. Kelling. Broken Windows posits that dealing more effectively and comprehensively with low-level quality of life crime would reduce more high-profile violent crime. Broken Windows policing was put to its first major large-scale test in the mid-1990s after the election of Rudolph Giuliani as mayor of New York City. Giuliani was an outspoken advocate of community policing, frequently citing the influence "Broken Windows" had on his thinking as mayor. Giuliani appointed Kelling's intellectual collaborator William J. Bratton as New York City Police Commissioner in 1994, saying, "I chose Bill Bratton because he agreed with the Broken Windows theory". In 1998, George Kelling and Catherine Coles expanded on this idea in their book, Broken Windows: Restoring Order and Reducing Crime in Our Communities, arguing that control of disorderly behavior in public places generally will lead to a significant drop in serious crime. Police chiefs like William Bratton (in both New York and Los Angeles) have implemented "broken windows" and related policies, and have reported falling crime rates.
  Bratton took these methods to Los Angeles on being appointed Los Angeles Police Department chief of police. Newark, New Jersey Mayor Cory Booker was lauded for his Broken Windows-based approach to crime after taking office in 2006.
  Senior fellow Heather Mac Donald argues that crime prevention statistics from the 2008–2009 recession improved as a result of efficient policing, high incarceration rates, more police officers working, data-driven approaches such as CompStat which helps commanders target high-crime areas, and a policy of holding precinct commanders accountable for results. This research opposes the commonly-held notion that crime inevitably spikes when economic conditions worsen. She contends the decline of American cities, beginning during the 1960s, was a result of crime "spiraling out of control". Most recently, Mac Donald has been notable for her argument that crime rates (or, in some instances, murder rates) have spiked in many urban areas as a result of the "Ferguson Effect": the tendency, in the aftermath of 2014's riots in Ferguson, Missouri, for police officers to engage in less proactive policing for fear of generating backlash from local populations or the media. Mac Donald has argued that the consequences of this trend adversely affect African-American communities, stating that "there is no government agency more dedicated to the idea that black lives matter than the police".
  In the 2010s, Institute experts were embedded in the Detroit Police Department, helping the city implement Broken Windows policing in order to reduce a serious crime problem. The institute funded an outreach team that shared its expertise in criminology and policy implementation with the Detroit Police Department, focusing on the "broken windows" approach. The institute is closely associated with CompStat, a data-driven police management approach that uses crime analysis, information sharing, and accountability to ensure that police departments focus on preventing crimes. George Kelling, the institute's loaned executive to the City of Detroit, and Michael Allegretti, the institute's director of state and local programs, implemented two pilot programs in the Northwest neighborhood of Grandmont-Rosedale and the Northeast neighborhood of East English Village. These programs, implemented in collaboration with the police and community groups, aimed to stem the rise of home invasions by increasing the felt presence of the police, engaging community members in problem solving, and focusing special attention on the neighborhoods' most at risk offenders. One source reported that in the first year following implementation, "home invasions dropped 26 percent".
caption: George Kelling stands with leaders of the Detroit Police Department and other local officials at a press conference in 2013. The Department partnered with Manhattan Institute for new ways to protect the neighborhoods in the area.
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