The minds of America in late 20th Century

Sergeant Lynn DeLillo, a six-year warhorse of the Maspeth police force and a third-generation police officer, observes, "Even if I'd treasured to do something else, I had to become a cop because, if you're from an Italian family like mine, e trulybody think you're in the Mafia otherwise." She notes that, more(prenominal) often judgment of convictions than not, television and film turn criminals into heroes and the police into villains. "Thank matinee idol for shows like NYPD Blue," she notes. "Sometimes they make my job look a lot more glamorous than it is, but at to the lowest degree the cops are the good guys on those shows." She observes that she spends much more of her time on service calls, maintaining order, and handling paperwork than she does chasing criminals or arresting people. "A lot of it can be really boring," she admits, "but this isn't a big city like New York, and anyway it's a lot safer for me when it's boring."

She and her partner regularly patrol the streets, keeping an gist out for problems before they develop. "We don't have a routine route, and we collar a lot more traffic violations than anything," she says. "We're also helped a lot by the neighborhood watch. They concent cast just on a small neighborhood, so they notice when something's going on out of the ordinary."

Not every neighborhood in her regularize has a watch plan. DeLillo observ

Experts disaccord on the most important reasons for the high aversion rate in America compared with those in the other industrialized nations. Sociologists cull unemployment and the prevalence of dead-end jobs among minorities for much of the problem. They also point to an educational system that produces numerous dropouts or graduates who lack either radical skills or a strong work ethic, especially among racial minorities. Other problems include street gangs that take the place of families in providing a sense of belonging, racism and other forms of discrimination, and a hitman culture that makes firearms readily available.

Nevertheless, "crime seems linked almost inextricably with the tensions, frustrations and temptations of an open and mobile society that places a high jimmy on individual development at the expense of the family or community" (MacGillis 37).

Thomas argues, "The community must reclaim its traditional role as the first line of defense against crime" (294). Neighborhood watches are a formalized version of this patient of of community self-defense. One member of his neighborhood watch program is Fumio Koizumi, who immigrated from his native Japan four years ago and runs a convenience store in the neighborhood. "In Japan, it would not be necessary to have this program," he says, "but here, people do not have the respect for each other." Koizumi has been robbed once; he joined the watch shortly afterward. "I was always very afraid, especially at night," he reports. "Now I am not so afraid, but I am more careful." Fear is to some extent a healthy reaction to crime; however, "the fear of crime can be damaging . . . if it drives so many law-abiding city residents off the streets that gullible pedestrians lack the safety in numbers that a active neighborhood provides" (MacGillis 24). Koizumi also is somewhat afraid of being discriminated against because of his induce: "We look different from most people here. We kept to ourselves for a long time."<
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