Dear Editor,
Reading about the "Police Yourself" campaign from an outside perspective (of an alumnus) I have found one common argument by those opposed to the campaign, "why are the police bullying students and not dealing with real criminals?" Although I used to think that this type of argument was valid, I now know that it is far from the truth. I read a book recently about social epidemics called "The Tipping Point" by Malcolm Gladwell. He argues in the book that little things are what makes social trends tip and spread like wildfire. I find the example that he used concerning the New York City crime rate very similar to the situation on Ball State's campus.
In the '80s New York was one of the most crime-ridden cities in the world. One of the worst places for crime was in the subways. As the '90s came around, a new director of public transportation took over. He began cleaning up the subway cars. He would not let a single car out on the tracks that had graffiti. At the same time he started cracking down on fair beaters (those who jumped the turnstiles). Most people thought that this was a waste of time when there were more pressing issues at hand with more serious crimes.
Soon, the critics were silenced by the fact that the campaign was working. All crime was reduced significantly. Why is that? Well, those who painted graffiti on cars were disheartened when their masterpieces were not displayed after three nights of work. Fair beaters turned out to be previous criminals, had warrants out for their arrest or were carrying weapons. Dealing with the little things prevented the big things from happening because the director of transportation realized that to a hardened criminal, what is graffiti or fair beating?
Not all graffiti artist or fair beaters are going to commit other crimes, but those who are going to commit other crimes are very likely to commit minor crimes.
Those on the Ball State campus who drink illegally are not necessarily going to commit other crimes, but those who are going to commit more serious crimes are going to drink illegally. So, if you want the UPD to crack down on serious crimes, then welcome them to crack down on minor crimes to get to the serious criminals.
Paul Lowe
Alumni
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