This article from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by pantelis panteloglou [log in to unmask] an interesting version of everyday use of high technology, formerly used for other reasons! :-| pantelis panteloglou [log in to unmask] /-------------------- advertisement -----------------------\ LOOKING FOR A TRULY HIGH-SPEED INTERNET EXPERIENCE? Then visit Alcatel.com and see what makes us the world's leading supplier of DSL solutions. Alcatel, world leader in DSL solutions. http://www.nytimes.com/ads/email/alcatel/index.html \----------------------------------------------------------/ Computers to Track 'Quality of Life' Crime, Giuliani Says http://www.nytimes.com/2000/11/15/technology/15MAYO.html November 15, 2000 By ERIC LIPTON Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani sent out a pre-holiday warning yesterday to panhandlers, squeegee crews, prostitutes, noisemakers and others who he said disturb the public peace, announcing his latest crackdown on "quality of life" crimes in New York City, this time with a high-tech spin. Since he came into office nearly seven years ago, Mr. Giuliani has unveiled a series of similar law enforcement initiatives, often as the holidays neared and hordes of tourists visited the city. What distinguishes this latest campaign, according to the Giuliani administration, is the enlistment of a Police Department computer mapping system traditionally used to monitor more serious crimes like robbery, rape and murder. Now, complaints about everything from loud music to graffiti, public drinking, prostitution, panhandling and homelessness will be "pin mapped" precinct by precinct, and police supervisors will be expected to move quickly and aggressively to counter any trends, the mayor and his police commissioner, Bernard B. Kerik, said. "This will now be a major area where precinct commanders and people in the precincts are held accountable," Mr. Giuliani said. "And it really has to be done that way because quality-of-life problems are very different depending on the part of the city you are in." Yesterday's City Hall news conference, which drew a standing-room only crowd to the ceremonial Blue Room, represented a return of sorts to the center stage for the mayor. This summer and fall have been dominated by the ongoing election drama and baseball. The mayor has also had to curtail his activities, at least a bit, as a result of his continuing prostate cancer treatment. But the mayor was in full form yesterday, boasting about the city's much-heralded success in cutting crime and his newest plans to push the numbers even lower. He made no reference to the ongoing trial of Paris Drake, the 36-year-old man charged with randomly attacking a young woman in Midtown last November with a six-pound paving stone. But it was clear that he was trying to reassure the public that crackdowns on the homeless, as well as earlier ones related to graffiti, loud radios and other nuisance crimes, are still under way. "The City of New York is now world famous for its turnaround, its renaissance, its reform, whatever you want to call it," Mr. Giuliani said. "The core, however, of the turnaround of New York City has to do with public safety and quality of life. I would like to remind people of that." Within hours of the announcement, though, some community leaders and civil libertarians were questioning the impact the mayor's new initiative might have, other than to earn some public relations notice. Most of the nuisance crimes cited by the mayor yesterday have been the focus of special enforcement efforts before, they noted. They also raised concerns that in the zeal to impose order, the administration might compromise individual rights. "The real issue here is what tactics will the N.Y.P.D. employ and whether these tactics will violate people's civil liberties, as they have done before," said Norman Siegel, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union. "Other municipalities, such as Boston and San Diego, have dramatically reduced crime without this dark side." But the mayor defended the city's policies, particularly last year's initiative to try to remove the homeless from the streets, saying that contrary to predictions, the police arrested only a small percentage of the homeless they encountered since last November. Of the 28,671 homeless questioned by the police in the last 12 months, 6,365 were transported to shelters, 532 were taken to hospitals and another 1,317, or 4.6 percent of those questioned, were arrested on charges including outstanding warrants, urinating in public and disruptive behavior with police officers or social workers, the mayor said. The mayor also took the chance yesterday to offer a few quick civics lessons as a defense of his focus on these "quality of life" crimes. Regarding the homeless, he said: "You are not allowed to live on a street in a civilized city. It is not good for you; it is not good for us." He added: "Maybe the city was stupid enough to embrace that idea years ago. We care about you enough and are not that dumb to think you should live on streets. So we contact and tell you, you have got to move." The mayor gave little hint of which of the many threats to civil order that he cited would get the most attention. But police officials said enforcement efforts would be based, in part, on complaints collected from the mayor's Quality of Life phone line (888-677-LIFE or 888-677-5433), which in the first eight and a half months of this year received 38,167 calls, with noise complaints by far the most frequent. Commissioner Kerik said that the police would not expand any squads assigned to "quality of life" crimes or increase spending on overtime. Instead, at weekly meetings of precinct commanders and other department officials, progress in combating nuisance crimes will be discussed and officers out on routine patrols will now be expected to pay more attention to them. Mr. Kerik said that unless there is a consistent focus on these kinds of complaints, enforcement tends to surge and then decline. "Prostitution particularly, graffiti, panhandling, they will disappear for a while, then when the focus and direction is off those problematic areas out on the street they start to flourish and pop back up again," Mr. Kerik said. "If we stay on them constantly," he added, "we will be able to keep them to a very minimal level." Mr. Giuliani acknowledged that the effort might result in a surge in new citations and arrests, which could ultimately increase the burden on the city's courts. But he added that that did not worry him. "We explained it to the court," he said. "They may have to work a little harder. That is good." The New York Times on the Web http://www.nytimes.com /-----------------------------------------------------------------\ Visit NYTimes.com for complete access to the most authoritative news coverage on the Web, updated throughout the day. 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