America’s safer streets

Jonathan Simon quoted in The Economist, August 25, 2012

An emerging challenge for police in some cities is that tactics that prove effective in the short term may also lose them trust. Their widely used “stop-and frisk” powers in New York City, for example, may have taken thousands of guns off the street, but they have also led to furious allegations of racial profiling. “We’ve figured out that encounters with young people reduce violence, but they also have negative effects,” says Mr. Simon. “Let’s see if we can separate the two.”