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Originally Posted by Charlatan
Yes there are root causes. Paying attention to them *is* important. You can't just increase the policing without adressing the issues that bring about crime in the first place. Miller may be a bit too far in the root cause direction with his platitudes but he has greatly increase police spending over the past year.
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I am all for paying attention to the "root causes" of unacceptable behavior, however, I don't think it will do much good in turning those who have already fallen into crime as a lifestyle. (I do believe it can do good in PREVENTING a kid from choosing crime as a way of life, but I don't believe that it can change someone who is already there. You might turn the odd guy around, but the vast majority of criminals will not cease their behavior if the city funds a few more social programs.
And Miller has only increased police spending because the province is paying for more cops. Otherwise, Toronto would not have hired any more cops.
Hiring cops is all well and good. I am not of the opinion however that hiring cops will solve this problem whatsoever. Cops tend to react to crime rather than prevent it most of the time. Where the cops on Boxing Day? There are thousands of them in Toronto and they drive up and down Yonge Street every two minutes. Apparently these hoods were having a staring competition across Yonge Street for an hour according to witnesses, slowly escalating to the point of bringing out hand guns. Where were the cops then? I will bet several cruisers drove right by these punks and did nothing. Why is that? I dunno myself.
What the cops do need is legislation with some bite. The Canadian legal system is simply too soft on criminals.
That is my rant.
They will catch the guys who did this and most likely they will get a slap on the wrist, or nothing at all.