Crime – It’s All up in da hood yo!

If authority knows that certain things ’cause’ crime, they have an excuse for over-policing areas that show these traits. ie poverty, race, high turn over (apts vs houses), gangs… They can spend tax payer dollars like it’s water. They can implement draconian social measures like curfews, no gathering bylaws. And they can use such racist concepts as gentrification to change the area so those who fit into these categories are pushed out.

It also means they don’t have to accept blame for their part of the equation. People are poor because they don’t get a living wage, aren’t valued or supported when they can no longer work for ‘the man’. These people are veterans, elderly people, people with disabilities they got from fires, car or work accidents, people running from bad situations like DV, parents with addictions…. They aren’t lazy or stupid. Not as a rule.

And these are the people who also end up homeless. They gather in specific areas that then have to be over-policed. Not due to the bad behaviour of the homeless, but due to that perception.

Looking at the stats/demographics of who the homeless are would shock you. Esp if you add those who couch surf, stay with family ‘between’ jobs and homes. Or between relationships. (And how many of those are kids is a true dismay). And in forest fire season, those who are min temporarily displaced by warnings and actual fires.

How do you say that you have to police little kids who have done nothing wrong? What does their being watched teach you about crime? Unless they’re the victims.

And how does that justify ‘big brother’? Have you ever noticed just where CCTV cameras are? It’s not around mansions, j/s.