Ghettoside Summary

Something that I thought about while reading these chapters was, in essence, what it meant to “mass distribute” a thing like “justice.” More pointedly speaking I wondered not only what defines “justice,” or who; and not only what it means “to keep the peace” in a neighborhood (for that matter)—but how the practice of doing so can be institutionalized and mass distributed through a police force, as was discussed around the beginning of this section of Ghettoside. ----------------------
I wondered all this, namely because of the fact that the author talked about how police officers were being sent to “high crime” areas, whether or not a crime had been reported. They were sent to these areas to “be proactive” and “suppress,” and to engage
Does it not lead to institutionalizing stereotypes about that area and/or the people who live there (i.e. as if they were potential criminals, by default)? When the institution of the police department is targetting these areas, is this stereotyping effect not forseen or guarded against in their institution? And of course, what does “fighting it” entail? Is sending squadcar after squadcar into an area going to do anything else but intimidate would-be criminals and further instill the sense within police officers that the communities they enter are threatening (and thus, that need to be always on guard)? I wondered why policing was the answer to solving crime, as opposed to targetting the motives for criminal behavior (e.g. scarcity of resources for living which drive people to steal or engage in criminal business activities). Instead of squad cars, why not send better resources for living into these “high crime areas?” Of course—none of this is even close to the question of what criminals are under watch (e.g. the petty thief, the random man with a gun, the rich corporate criminal knowingly engaging in a practice that will rob millions of their jobs and pension funds,