By: Anton Kienast
A recent New York Times article entitled To Stem Juvenile Robberies, Police Trail Youths Before the Crime, Wendy Ruderman described New York Police Department’s new approach to mitigating future crimes of juvenile delinquents who have committed robbery. The Juvenile Robbery Intervention Program, J-RIP, actively monitors juvenile robbers through their social media profiles on Facebook and Twitter, even “staging interventions and force-feeding outreach”. J-RIP employs a fairly aggressive surveillance strategy by creating fake profiles on social media websites to “friend” juveniles who are suspected of being at risk for committing future crimes.
The Intelligence Division also determines the street name and gang affiliation of each teenager under surveillance, creating a binder of photos collected from Facebook and arrest photos of their fellow gang members. Equipped with this information, J-RIP officers aim to alienate these teenagers from their unwholesome associates by dropping in at their school and home, and driving up to them while “shouting out friendly hellos, in front of their friends”.
Additionally, officers attempt to gain the trust of each teenager’s family by offering practical assistance such as rides to doctor appointments, filling out forms for social services, and even giving gifts to their younger siblings. The program builds upon Operation Ceasefire, successfully implemented in Boston and later in other cities, but “has a different and more narrow focus”, that being juvenile offenders who commit crimes outside of their neighborhood boundaries. The program enjoyed success during its onset in Brownsville, where only 14 of the 106 teenagers under J-RIP’s watch were arrested for a new robbery in 2007, leading to its expansion into East Harlem.
The Juvenile Robbery Intervention Program as presented in the New York Times Article appears to blend an aggressive surveillance program with community-oriented policing. The teenagers under surveillance have their every move monitored in an effort to prevent future crime. Additionally, with knowledge of their whereabouts and circle of associates, officers routinely confront these juveniles in front of their peers to dissuade them from engaging in problematic behavior. Lieutenant Glassberg, who was asked to help start the program, remarked that he “saw an opportunity to break the trajectory of those born into poverty and neglect”.
Such an approach is markedly different from how the majority of police departments around the nation contend with juvenile crime. Rather than abandon them to the pitfalls of their social environment, J-RIP officers take a personal interest in juvenile offenders as individuals, rather than simply labeling them as criminals and allowing the juvenile or criminal justice system to sweep them up. Breaking the “trajectory of those born into poverty and neglect” resonates with the idea of reconstituting neighborhoods, as opposed to removing the undesirable or unsightly members of those communities. Tackling the underlying social problems of problematic behavior may not be the mainstream tactic of dealing with crime, but it certainly is a refreshing departure from merely dealing with the criminal act when it has already been committed.
This is a very interesting tactic that does indeed appear to connect to several themes of the course covered so far, such as social architecture and community policing. I know that information-gathering is a core component of law-enforcement, but this appears to be a unique way of going about it given technological advances. Even if certain subjects can not be successfully swayed from a life of criminality, it seems that the police will have an advantage when a crime occurs by preemptively having potential suspects' information.
ReplyDeleteThis tactic also appears to show a shift of officers' duties towards social work, and reflects upon the patronage policing era, where officers were essentially administering all of a municipality's services before specialized positions were created to run them. However, I'm a bit skeptical about how effective this will be. Many times, these adolescents grow up in a social network that may lead them to partake in criminality. It can be very difficult to break off from their friends they grew up with and still see everyday, so I'm not sure how effective it will be for someone to check in on them every once in a while, especially if it's a police officer
I'm curious as to what the consequences are for those who continue to rob, such as the 14 of the 160 teenagers that robbed again under J-RIP's watch. It is interesting to see how different cities are using different lever-pulling tactics to get to the root of juveniles committing specific crimes. Now I know of Operation Ceasefire, J-RIP, and another program in San Francisco's mission district that targets young gang members by giving them a job instead of putting them in jail.
ReplyDeleteEdwina Yuan
This reminds me of the Girls and Boys court in my city where at risk juvenile offenders are assigned a team of lawyers, social workers, and other professionals who work in collaboration towards the best interest of the juvenile. They really take an interest in the well-being of the minor.
ReplyDeleteInteresting post, what I wonder is if the family members are at all suspicious of the J-RIP officers' help. Since these families have dealt with police authority before it would be interesting to note if it is harder or easier for certain families, depending on their experience to trust these police officers. This reminds me of what Captain Figueroa said when he mentioned his trust model. What better way to gather intelligence than from the community itself?
ReplyDelete-Jacqueline Galeno-Escobedo
Using surveillance to prevent juvenile crime represents the changes that the public law enforcement is able to undergo due to evolving technology. Although creating “fake identities” might seem somewhat questionable, the J-RIP program and it tactics paints a picture of public law enforcement officers as caring and willing to help, almost as guided by the citizen agent narrative. As to the 16 individuals who anew engaged in criminal behavior, this is a small percentage that doesn’t undermine the overall success of the program.
ReplyDeleteHome Lifestyle has a wide range of One Stop Home Essentials products suited for the Active, Busy, Mobile and City Living People, bringing the Quality of Life to a different level.
ReplyDelete