The Safer Cities Initiative (SCI), with its massive influx of law enforcement resources, undoubtedly was effective in sweeping the streets of the poor and homeless in the Skid Row area of downtown Los Angeles. Tent cities, open-air drug markets, and the constant motion of shopping carts have all been reduced significantly, bringing an improvement in the physical environment and the social quality of life for those remaining—some of them poor. Some reduction in crime seems to have occurred in the area as well—although its exact nature and scope remain somewhat unclear. On this basis alone, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) and its boosters at the Manhattan Institute have claimed victory in the ideological battle to prove that the solution to crime and poverty is not more social spending but instead, expanded and more aggressive law enforcement targeting some of the poorest and most vulnerable populations in society (Mac Donald, 2009). What remains to be determined, however, is whether this initiative produced outcomes that are actually worthy of replication in other urban areas around the country. Here, I think the answer is clearly “no,” based on the failure to reduce homelessness and the high costs associated with what are at best minimal crime reductions.
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