drawn from police calls-for-service suggest that when individuals consider minor disorder
incidents worthy of reporting to police, there is in fact a high correlation between disorder and
violence. Taken together the present study has a number of implications for policy and future
research.
First, future studies should attempt to assess the degree to which “broken windows”
theory is supported by data where individuals are reporting perceived disorder to official sources,
as is the case with calls-for-service data. It appears that such data are clearly linked to levels of
violence.
Second, given that there is a recognized tendency among disadvantaged populations to
under-report minor offenses, a clear connection between ecological disadvantage and crime rate,
and an apparent tendency of police to be driven by the reporting of minor incidents (independent
of disadvantage), police should consider allocating resources and focusing efforts not on what is
reported, but based on underlying socio-economic factors correlated with violence ….
Given the clear potential such a recommendation has for police bias against the
disadvantaged, any such efforts should seek to address problems in disadvantaged areas through
non-traditional means. In other words, police should seek to engage in problem-oriented
policing where social services and community members are co-opted to address the root
conditions leading to high levels of violence (Goldstein 1989).
Given that minor incidents have the propensity to escalate into serious violence, one
alternative means utilized by the police might be the institution of informal mechanisms for
mediating disputes among community members …
11
Convention