Sunday, February 12, 2006
'Automatic default to a firearm': Herald: Crime. Globe: Crime. NYT: Crime. ... I'll leave it to experts to sift through the stories and data. But three things jump out at me from these stories: 1.) Boston is not alone. San Francisco, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Philadelphia, Charlotte, Kansas City and others are seeing roughly the same violent patterns. 2.) Boston's police chief frames it well: "We're not going to get discouraged." Nor should we. Crime is still down compared to past peaks. We have different levels of tolerance now. That's good. 3.) More cops. Every city has its unique problems. One can't escape the fact Boston's police staffing is down. ... There are many other things that could be done. There are no magic wands. But hiring more cops is a logical first step. ...
