And you don’t have to put more police on the street.
By Jeff Thomas
The public response to the uptick in car jackings is pure unadulterated insanity. More police. Try teens as adults. On WBOK am 1230, the Professor wants two dogs and a gun. He says he can solve the crime problem in a couple of weeks. His funny twist on the tough on crime talk animates peoples fears. Understandably people are worried. Nobody wants to live in fear. But lock em up and throw away the key is not the answer. And not how to stop car jackings in NOLA.
Yes, being robbed is terrible. The emotional toll of having a gun pointed at you is unimaginably distressing. And losing a vehicle disrupts your life in a big way. It can result in anything from a major insurance hassle and increased premiums to losing a job.
But the brutal murder of a senior citizen shocked us all. Her arm was severed as she was dragged to death. This has to end. Citizens blame the police for not doing enough. And the DA is under fire for his policy about not charging teens as adults. Predictably, concealed carry permits are on the rise.
People Are Taking Matters into Their Own Hands
Nowadays going to the gas station is a risky proposition. So, men have the gas pump in one hand and a 9mm pistol in the other. The police say despite a “manpower shortage” they are beefing up patrols. Before too long somebody is going to shoot a 15-year-old skinny little boy who approached his car. Sadly turns out the boy was selling raffles to his church fair. His father was just collecting cash from another patron and the boy wanted to impress his father. Instead he lay dead on the ground, clipboard still in hand.
Almost daily police release videos of young black men walking around neighborhoods and pulling door handles and quickly rolling away in somebody’s vehicle. Two minutes. Your life changes forever. Call the police or get your gun. But protect your property at all costs from these hooligans. Ultimately, though the notion of young black and criminality is reinforced. Making any real change more difficult.
Make no mistake. Young black boys commit most of these crimes, although sometimes girls are present too. So, what is the best solution to the problem? Police stings? More patrols? Buy a new pistol and lay in wait? Recently, a car owner boobytrapped his center console with a noise bomb. This escalation to violence is more than problematic. It skips a simple solution.
Holistic Ideas
Our citizens just passed a coupe of millages to support parks and recreation and libraries. This was an important decision by the citizens of the city. It reflects an understanding of the importance of a holistic approach to making our city a great place to work and live. ¾ of the voting public passed these taxes. People get it. We have to pay our hard-earned money to invest in stuff that is important and expensive. Computing and quantifying the actual benefits of good parks and recreation is kinda like catching wind. But with the libraries tax, plans are dedicated for our youth. We need more of these investments in our people. To paraphrase Senator Cory Booker, “We are worthy!”
Related: Why Do Black Men Shoot Each Other on the Street
Investing in a well-publicized, universally recognized jobs training and placement program to offer to young disenfranchised young black men would result in fewer young black men walking the streets looking for easy targets to attack. The new tax would target academically struggling boys and girls during the school year. And offer real life job skills training, like carpentry, electrical, plumbing, STEM, sales and marketing, etc. The program tests and tracks participants. Participants get access to all fields. After two years, they will be union members or licensed by the city.
The historical record of discrimination and oppression in America is clear. NOLA has been no exception. We were the mass incarceration capital of the world. Yet led the world in criminality.
An investment in our people like the one we made in parks and recreation and libraries could stop these young guys from walking down your street and pulling your car handle. You can gas up with one hand and not shoot the preacher’s kid. For only $125 a year.
I am not willing to pay for other peoples children acting bad
But you already do Bobo. Taxes pay for police and jails and judges and probabtion. You pay a lot. This probably saves money in the long run
I would add the following to Jeff Thomas’ well written and thoughtful article. One is a City wide youth boxing program. New Orleans has historically been the boxing capital of the world, hosting numerous heavy championship bouts and birthing just as many champions.
Young men are aggressive by nature and those who have few outlets have used violence and crime as their outlet. We have seen too many of our youth taken from us because someone was “dis’ed”, therefore they were shot. A program thru NORD and/or The Dryades YMCA would provide a conflict resolution mechanism where our young black men can play out their grievances and walk away alive. With parents, police, schools and churches behind the effort to put on gloves to solve their differences, New Orleans can reclaim her center stage position in the boxing world and save her youth.
One piece in all of this however needs to be added and that is what to do with offenders. I propose that the US military establish special “recruit” training for those convicted and after several months with their Drill Instructor the military can decide if they can be woven into the organization’s fabric as productive servicemen with a future or need to be returned to the criminal justice system.
Thank you for your work.
As usual Jeff your thoughtful well written reporting is a change from luck her up voices. One add on should include parental responsibility such as PTA & co-ops for single family homes. I was fortunate to have a neighbor that helped with cooking dinner, babysitting the girls in exchange for helping each other without adding $$ to keep the kids out of trouble if we worked late or on the weekend. This was a life saver for both of us.
Our Children are out of control because of the mixed messages America keep sending. However, due to the out dated “LAWS” along with Civil Rights issues have confused our Black Americans & the law abiding citizens are being played & misused by the new recruits of criminals. Black lives matter but being killed at the hands of misconduct of bad Police Officers is one issue but to use that notion as if it gives criminals the right to piggy back of what laws can twist truths is totally something else. So the new criminals are using these gimmicks to commit crimes against their own people without any fear because these are the same people who will stick up for them when they are killed doing some other crime/s. You can’t have it both ways. We need to have a program that registers all kids with the Police Dept who have done crimes such as robbery, breaking & entering, gun violence etc! I’ll explain further.William