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Some argue that broken windows policing creates the hardships that push people into more serious crime: Besnkheru who sings on subway trains, called broken windows policing a “ludicrous philosophy.”
“Conditions [create] people’s decisions,” he told Truthout. “If you cut out the outlet for someone to dance, their choice could be . . . some type of crime [to make ends meet].”
When I asked Kenny, a subway dancer in the SoulWhat crew, if he thought broken windows policing will deter larger crime, he responded, “I honestly think it’s going to be the opposite effect.” Elaborating on his thought, he explained the economic factor of subway performance and crime.
“The people that subway perform or panhandle on the train; it’s because they don’t want to commit serious crimes . . . They’re saying that they wanna crack down on the petty crimes to stop the major crimes? It’s not going to happen. I don’t think it’s going to really affect anything. That’s actually going to make things worse. The people that are going to get arrested for petty crimes, they gonna start thinking they should do a bigger crime . . . If you stopped me from [dancing], I have no money to feed my family. I can’t feed myself. I can no longer live nowhere, so now I have to go out and rob somebody because now my back’s against the wall.”
Matthew Christian of Busk NY said the “lack of jobs in our economy and low wages” are “the real broken windows” in New York.
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