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The theory behind stop and frisk
The broken windows theory is a criminology theory of the norm-setting and signaling effect of urban disorder and vandalism additional crime and anti- social behavior. The theory states that maintaining and monitoring urban environments in a well-ordered condition may stop further vandalism and escalation into more serious crime.Consider this example: An abandoned building with a few broken windows. Alone it poses no threat. However a few vandals come along and spot these broken windows and decide to break more of them. The building, because of its condition later gets tagged with spray paint. Looking completely run down a few homeless people break in. With time, they light fires, destroy the inner workings of the building and become squatters. This domino effect is the premise behind the broken windows theory. Minor crimes if left unnoticed will eventually escalate in to bigger, more serious crimes. This is the same theory the NYPDs Stop and Frisk uses. The New York Police departments program intends on stopping people in high crimes areas to search for weapons and other substances. The program’s purpose is to remove guns of the street before they are used in more serious crimes. In other words, the NYPD aims to fix the broken window before the squatters get in.

The beginnings of stop and frisk
The stop and frisk program also aims to promote proactive policing. Proactive policing is the practice of deterring criminal activity by showing police presence and engaging the public to learn their concerns, thereby preventing crime from taking place in the first place. It began with former Mayor David Dinkins 1990-1993. New York, being the dangerous crime invested city that it was, needed a turn around. Dinkins attempted to do this with a 1.8 billion dollar plan to fight fear in New York by hiring 8,000 new officers. NYC.gov shows the murder rate in New York City peaked in 1990 and dropped 30% by 1994 however most of the credit goes to Dinkins successor, former mayor Rudy Giuliani.

New York’s transition from crime to safety
In 1990, William J Bratton became head of the New York City Transit Police. Bratton described George L. Kelling as his "intellectual mentor", and implemented a zero tolerance policy because of his contributions to the development of the “broken windows theory”. Former mayor Rudy Giuliani, a republican, hired Bratton as his police commissioner who adopted the strategy more widely for use in New York City. Giuliani used Bratton and the massive expansion of the New York police department to crackdown on crimes. Giuliani's "zero-tolerance" included a crackdown on fare evasion, public drinking, public urination , graffiti artists and the “squeegee men " (who had been wiping windshields of stopped cars and aggressively demanding payment).