Opinion
Heather MacDonald brought a different perspective to Hamilton
By Sarah Larson ’15
April 17, 2015
Last Wednesday April 8, 2015, the Alexander Hamilton Institute co-sponsored a speaker with the Hamilton College Republicans that offered a very different narrative to the policing crisis facing American right now. Heather MacDonald a well-respected academic and political commentator, defended Compstat policing.
MacDonald’s own interest in this topic came from her experiences as a New York City resident. She has visited several police offices and interviewed citizens in East New York and Groundsville, Brooklyn. Using both her work as a journalist as well as crime statistics, MacDonald argued that the NYPD are not racist and that criminals are overwhelmingly young black men. Therefore, in an attempt to prevent black-on-black crime (which she sees as genocidal), police officers overwhelmingly ‘frisk’ young black men. She asserts that officers are not ‘racists,’ they are simply doing their job.
According to MacDonald, police departments that use the Compstat method of policing are doing their job very well. She cited several statistics to indicate that since the onset of CompStat policing, crime rates have dropped significantly in New York City and across the country: an 80 Percent crime drop in the 1990s, of which the greatest beneficiaries were young black men. She praised the work of NYPD police chief William Bratton in forcing officers to “be accountable” for their districts. Obsessively collecting data crime on has illustrated crime patterns that, according to MacDonald, call for, and justify, ‘stop and frisk’ policing.
Besides a statistic-filled defense of the effectiveness of Compstat policing, MacDonald also argued for more attention to be drawn to ‘black’ problems: ‘they’ are killing each other in numbers akin to “genocide” and the solution of many of these ‘black’ problems is a reconstitution of the family. According to her speech, 90 percent of black children in the inner cities are born out of wedlock. She acknowledged that talking about black-on-black crime is an uncomfortable issue, but nevertheless supported by data. She asserted towards the ending of her talk, that “boys should be raised by their mothers and their fathers.”
In regards to police brutality, Macdonald acknowledged that since the police have a monopoly on force, they should be held to a high standard. Police brutality should never go unpunished. However, she argued that instead of focusing so much on the outbursts of violent police officers, like the one in North Carolina, Americans should be more concerned with the far more frequent and deadly outbursts of violence coming from gangs, in particular from young black men. She cited several stories of children being killed in the ramifications of gang violence and bemoaned the fact that more attention is received by the now completely debunked Ferguson episode.
MacDonald also spent a good portion of her time at Hamilton talking with students and answering questions from students and community members. One person was concerned with how the rate of black incarceration affected the black family, arguing that the system perpetuated itself. Another community member was concerned with the use of the term “black” (he said there is no such thing). One student brought up how white and black men are just as likely to use drugs, however black men are far more likely to be arrested. One person brought up the long and tormented history between the white police and black population in New York, and another student was concerned with MacDonald’s ability to understand the outcomes of stop-and-frisk policing because she is a white women.
The mood in the room was tense, especially when she dismissed the ramifications of stop and frisk policies on black men as “yes, that must be frustrating.” However, in my opinion, the event was certainly worthwhile. I would like to see more of that sort on campus. Her ideas and talk inspired many thoughtful conversations (including an upcoming event organized by La Vanguardia) about a topic that affects us all.