The IEA Health an d Welfare Unit Choice in Welfare No. 35 Zero Tolerance: Policing a Free Society Enlarged and Re vise d Sec ond Edition William J. Bratton William Griffiths Ray Mallon John Orr Charles Po llard Norman Dennis (Editor) IEA Health and Welfare Unit London First published April 1997 En lar ged and Re vised S econd E dit ion, J anu ary 1 99 8 The IEA Health an d Welfare Unit 2 Lord North St London SW1P 3LB © The IEA Health and Welfare Unit 1998 All rights reserved ISBN 0-255 36432-6 ISSN 1362-9565 Types et by th e IE A Hea lth an d Welfa re Un it in Bookman 10 point Printed in Great Britain by Hartington Fine Arts Ltd, Lancing, West Sussex Contents Pa ge The A uth ors iv Forew ord to the S econ d Ed ition David G. Gre en vii Editor’s Introd uction Norman Dennis 1 Crime is Down in New York City: Blame th e Police William J . Bratton 29 Zero Tolerance: S hort -te rm Fix, Lon g-te rm Liability? Ch arles Pollard 44 Confiden t Policing in Ha rtlepool Norman Dennis and Ray Mallon 62 Crime an d Cu lture in Har tlepool Norman Dennis and Ray Mallon 88 St ra th clyd e’s Sp otligh t In itia tive John Orr 105 Zero Toleran ce: A View from Lond on William Griffiths 126 Notes 138 The Authors William J. Bratton began his career as a police officer in Boston in 1970, rising by 1980 to th e pos ition of Su perintend ent of Police. He served as Chief of the Massachusetts Bay Transporta- tion Authority Police and as Su perintend ent of the Metropolitan District Commission Police. Between 1990 and 1992 he achieved national re cogn ition for h is lea der sh ip of th e New York Cit y Transit Police, initiatin g reforms and strategies that eventually cut subway crime by nearly 50 per cent. In 1992 he returned to Boston as Su perintenden t-in-Ch ief, an d becam e Boston Police Comm issioner in 1993. In Ja nuary 1994 he was appointed Polic e Com m issioner of th e City of New York by Ma yor Ru dolp h Giu lian i, and embarked on a major reformation of the New York Police Department. He is now Vice Chairman of the Boston-based First Security Services Corporation and President of its New Yor k su bsidiary First Secu rity Consulting, Inc. Norman Denn is is Gu est Fellow in th e Departm ent of Religious Studies, at the University of Newca stle upon Tyne. With Professor A.H. Halsey he is author of En glis h Ethica l S ocia lis m , Clarendon Press, 1988. The IEA Health and We lfa re Un it is the pu blish er of his Fam ilies W ithou t Fathe rhood (co-author George Erdos), 1993 (second edition) and The Invention of Permanent Poverty, 1996. He is also well-known for his study of a Yorkshire coal-m in in g town, Coal Is Our Life (with Cliff Sla u ghter and Fernando Henriques), and his two s tu dies of a wor kin g-c lass dis tr ict of Su n der lan d, People and Planning, 1970, and Pub lic Participation and Planners’ Blight, 1972. He is currently s tudying the struggle between the bureau cratic, political and media a dvocates of dru g, edu cat iona l and family permissiveness in the European Union and Switzer- land, and one of their most important opp onents, a Zürich citizens’ orga nizat ion ca lled t he VPM. William Griffiths BEM QPM was appointed Commander (Crime) of Sou th East Area of the Metropolitan Police in 1994, and was designated Deputy to the Assistan t Comm issioner in 1996. He joined the Metropolitan Police in 1967 and served as a constable at Canon Row for three years, followed by 17 years as a detective iv v officer in various divisions. This was interspersed with periods on th e S er iou s Cr im es Br an ch an d th e Flying Squad at New Scotland Yard. He was also involved for a time in stra tegic planning for the crime department, including an appointment as project man ager for the Crimestoppers in itia tive in Lon don . In 1990 he was appointed Chief Superintendent to Carter Street Division in Southwark. He th en retu rn ed to d etect ive du ty a nd the Flying Squad as its operational head. As a Commander he leads th e s tr ate gy for cr im e r ed u ct ion , as well as the street robbery ca m paign Op er ation Ea gle E ye, an d h e m ain ta in s a thema tic over vie w o f a ll te chn ology used in ta ckling crime. He was awarded the British Empire Medal for gallantry in the 1974 Birthday Honours and the Queens Police Medal for distinguished service in the 1997 New Year Honours. Ray Mallon is a native of Stockton-on-Tees. He lives there with his wife a nd their two teen age daughters. He joined the Clevela n d Constabulary in June 1974. He served as a foot patrol officer in his home town and as a traffic pa trol officer at Billin gh a m (a gain, loca lly) before trans ferring for a brief period to Merseyside Police in 1977. In 1978 h e re-joined Cleveland Cons tab ulary, an d served with the Regional Crime Squa d. After a period with the Cadet Training Departm ent h e served with the CID at Lang- baugh. He was th en appointed to head crime strategy at Hartle- pool. He is n ow a De te ct ive S u per in te n den t a n d h ea d of th e CID at Middlesbrough. John Orr OBE QPM CIMgt join ed th e Kilm arn ock Bu rgh Polic e in 1964. In 1969 he joined the former Ayrshire Constabulary and in 1984 he was appointed Head of Strath clyde Police Serious Crime Squad. He was promoted Detective Chief Superinten dent in 1987, becom ing J oin t Head of Strathclyde CID. He was chosen to head th e investigation into the Lockerbie air disaster and subsequently lectured extensively on disaster planning and investigation . He was a ppointed Director of th e Man agem ent of Disasters and Civil Emergency Course at th e Police Staff College, Bramshill, in 1992 and 199 3. In 1990 he was appointed Deputy Chief Con sta ble of Du m fries an d Ga llowa y Con sta bu lary an d in 1994, on secon dment, Assistan t Inspector of Cons tabu lary for Scotlan d. Mr Orr was appointed Chief Constable of Strathclyde vi ZERO TOLERANCE: POLIC ING A FRE E S OCIETY Police in January 1996. He was awarded the OBE in 1992 and the Queen ’s Polic e Me dal in 19 96. Mr Or r is m arr ied with a grown-up family of two sons an d a dau ghter. Charles Po ll ard QPM LLB joined the Metropolitan Polic e in 1964. He attended the 9th Special Course at the Police Staff College, Bramsh ill in 1971 where he gained a scholarship to Brist ol Univers ity an d obtained an Honours Degree in Law. He then served a furt h er five years with th e Me tr op olitan Polic e, being clos ely in volved in the Balcombe Street siege and th e Iranian Embassy siege. In 1980 he was promoted Superintendent in the Su ssex Police where he was involved in the police oper a- tion at the Bright on bom b incident during the 1984 Con ser vative Party Conference. He was promoted Assistant Chief Constable in the Thames Va lley Police in 1985, then retu rned to the Met ro poli- tan Polic e a s Depu ty Ass ista n t C om m issioner in 1988. He was su bsequ ently appointed Chief Constable of Th am es Valle y Police in Jan u ary 19 91. He was awa rd ed th e Q u een ’s Polic e Me dal in 1990 an d is a Visiting Fellow of Nuffield College, Oxford. Foreword to the Second Edition This book brings together police officers from both sides of the Atlantic to describe th eir efforts to de al effective ly wit h ris in g crime. New York achieved a sign ifica n t reduction in its crim e r ate followin g the introdu ction of ‘zero-toleran ce’ policing under the leadership of William Bratton. In the first essay Mr Bratton describes th e philosoph y behind t he NYPD’s c hange of str ategy. At about the sa me time, a sim ilar experiment was being condu cted in Hartlepool un der th e leadersh ip of Ray Mallon. Th e results are desc rib ed in ou r t hird es sa y by Ray Mallon a nd Norman Den n is. Th e b len d of th e s ociologist’s in sights with the practical knowledge of a serving police officer committed to the tra dition of British p olicing that is restra ined, good-h umoured and yet effective h as p rod u ced an es sa y of ra re qu ality.