Zero Tolerance: Quality of Life and the New Police Brutality in New York City

4. Can Zero Tolerance Last? Voices from inside the Precinct

4 Can ZeroTolerance Last? Voices from inside the Precinct Jennifer R.Wynn I was given a ticket for going through a red light—on my bicycle. I was infuriated. The next day I was lugging my bike up a staircase and a cop offered to carry it. I let him, but I thought twice about thanking him. —A 38-year-old woman from Brooklyn I conduct research on inner-city drug use and come into contact with a lot of dealers and addicts. My brother-in-law is a street narcotics cop. He begs me for leads of people he can arrest. He’s that desperate to make arrests. —A criminologist at John Jay College of Criminal Justice I think we’ve gone overboard with zero tolerance. Cops are being held to unrealistic expectations to arrest people, and the result is that the community now sees us as occupiers, not problem solvers. —An NYPD captain with twenty years on the job THE DROP IN New York City crime has made for tantalizing sound bites and boosted civic pride among the most cynical urban dwellers. But often lost from the commentary are the voices and experiences of uniformed officers charged with enforcing “zero tolerance” policing, the intensified law enforcement as well as style of management that holds law enforcement officials accountable for achieving acceptable 107 results. This chapter, based on interviews with police officers, sergeants, and captains within the NYPD—all of whom requested anonymity for fear of reprisal—explores how zero tolerance plays out on the street, and what toll it has taken on its enforcers and targets alike. We will also examine how the city’s other law enforcement agency, the Department of Correction, has successfully adapted elements of zero-tolerance policing to the city’s sprawling jail complex on Rikers Island, producing a 90 percent decline in inmate violence since 1995. Echoing the sentiments of every police officer interviewed, an NYPD sergeant with eleven years on the job described morale among police officers as “lower than [his] shoe.” He cited insufficient salary, unflattering media coverage, and an anti-NYPD sentiment that has pervaded public thinking. Undeniably, the NYPD has driven down crime substantially over the past five years, but its success has been marred by a number of high-profile police brutality cases and aggressive police tactics that have changed—or ended—the lives of ordinary citizens. In responding to the current swell of public backlash directed at the NYPD, the sergeant noted that “perps consider harassment from cops as an occupational hazard. It’s when the more mainstream, law-abiding citizens get busted for low-level infractions that the outrage begins.” New York City police feel their efforts as crime fighters have gone unrewarded, both internally and externally. Although city and union officials spent two years negotiating the current labor contract under which the NYPD’s 39,000 employees work, “all we got were zeros,” said the sergeant. The five-year contract gave police no raise for the first two years (and therefore no retroactive pay, which the cops had been counting on), and increases of 3 percent for the third year, 3 percent for the fourth year, and 6 percent for the fifth year. “Some people said 12 percent is a good raise,” continued the sergeant, “but inflation is what, 3.5 percent? Over a five-year period that’s almost 18 percent, so we actually lost ground. And we’re underpaid to begin with. That’s our thanks for fighting crime.” The sergeant pointed out that when Mayor Rudolph Giuliani negotiated with other city agencies, he stressed that any increases in pay would be based on productivity. “When we tried to bring productivity into the equation, he didn’t want to hear it. What really happened is that the union and the mayor didn’t hit it off. They had some disagreements, and Giuliani did his usual routine when he’s pissed, which is basically, ‘That’s it—Stick ’em in the tail.’” What is implied in the sergeant’s ob108 JENNIFER R. WYNN servations is that the morale problem over compensation may undermine enforcement of zero tolerance—more effectively, perhaps, than a steady barrage of criticism from community activists and civil rights groups. At the same time, the implications of successfully negotiating a “productivity” raise are disturbing: creating financial incentives to...