Zero Tolerance Policing

The NYPD Model

It is in the context of what is known as the NYPD model that zero tolerance has received both the greatest criticism and the greatest acknowledgement. Debate centers on the value and the unintended repercussions of assertive police strategies. On the one hand, New York City's crime rate, to the amazement of many, continues to drop; there was a 57 percent decline in serious crime between 1993 and 2000. On the other hand, a growing number of skeptics—including members of minority communities and local, state, and federal officials—regard NYPD policing as excessive policing that is distant and brutal and dissolves the public's confidence and trust in the police.

For many, New York City's approach has become synonymous with a crackdown on quality-of-life offenses. This crackdown, which affects virtually all illegal activities, has increased in the last several years. In 2000, for example, criminal court summonses for offenses such as urinating and drinking alcohol in public, not paying a public transportation fare, loitering, having an unleashed dog, or cleaning windshields [Page 1764]for money increased more than 16 percent when compared to the previous year. Summonses that must be answered at the Environmental Control Board—including playing loud music, which is the number one complaint to the mayor's quality-of-life telephone hotline—increased from more than 20,000 in 1999 to more than 22,000 in 2000.

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