What's Wrong With These Pictures?

A score of people showed up at the WEB substation yesterday to protest what they rightly deemed an attack on individual civil liberties. The protest was in response to the substation's posting of 25 community members' photos in the window of the building which sits at the corner of Whalley and Norton Streets in the heart of one of New Haven's most diverse neighborhoods.

You see, it may not have been illegal, but I don't think we need the law to tell us when something is unethical. It is common practice for substation leaders to post photos such as these within the walls of the building, but in this case, the commander decided to set aside precedent, (I'm sure with the best of intentions) and publicly display the photos in the sidewalk window of the substation.

The problem is not that the community substation had decided to thwart crime and thus improve the living conditions of WEB, but rather, that these individuals were not afforded the due process of the law. That is to say, few would argue with the goals of community policing-reducing crime, improving the quality of life, helping to sustain walkable neighborhoods, but one has to recall that no one should be considered guilty until proven innocent. Though, it may discomfort some, myself included (my friends were robbed within blocks of this substation), we still must remember that we are afforded very basic civil liberties in our society including the right to fair trial and presumed innocence. Therefore, it is unnecessary and unfriendly to publicly display the photos of individuals not wanted for any specific crime. Fear-mongering and profiling such as this will only create more tension in our communities.

We'll have to leave it to the ACLU lawyers to determine if anything about this incident could be considered illegal, but we should all agree that local law enforcement over-stepped their bounds on this occasion. In the meantime, lets give thanks to the community members who showed up in the cold weather yesterday to protest this incident. There message should resonate with anyone who values their community and their liberties.

If you live in this neighborhood, and care about the decisions being made on your behalf, the best thing to do is attend the Community Management Team meetings (3rd Tuesday of the Month @ 7:00pm at the substation). It is an open dialogue between community members and leaders including law enforcement. It represents a decentralized policy process and should be allowed to prosper. If you're sick of the same old guard deciding what's best for your neighborhood and you want to pitch your own ideas, this is a great place to start. In fact, invite all of your friends who live in the community with you, create a presence, show them that there are new ideas and solutions to our very old problems.

Graffiti versus Art?

Graffiti and Graffiti Art are both getting a lot of notice in town and in the Media in general. The upside is that these modern day hieroglyphics are becoming accepted more widely as a counter culture and art form. However there is a negative side to this as well, legal ramifications; the police are being pressured by city officials and property owners to start building cases on Writers, this is something that has been avoided since the early 90's (the cops had more important matters to attend to - still do for that matter).

What is happening now is that, much like the broken windows scenario in new york, business owners and residents of wealthy neighborhoods (as well as city officials) are all pushing to have graffiti artists and writers persecuted. I even read in the New Haven Independent that there would be 50 dollar fines doled out for possession(in public spaces) of graffiti devices such as stickers, markers and spray cans, as well as fines for offenses above and beyond those ordered in court. I talked to an officer recently and he knew of no such laws but said that in the 90s they had been tracking spray paint sales and had given fines for possession of large scale paint markers.

The thing that seems so contrasting in all of this is the fact that the typography in sign making and on fliers for clubs, and for other local businesses so often borrows from graffiti; as does modern art. if you search the new haven independent articles comments there is an individual who is a writer himself that states the obvious, that if we treated graffiti as they do in Montreal then business owners and property owners would seek out true artists in the scene and beautify their buildings with aerosol art eliminating the need for scarring the surfaces with buff marks and blotchy cover ups. Recently the Old Acme Wall was covered up with a mural done by high school students with the help of some local artists. My belief though, is that if you wish to stop something so anarchic by nature then it will inevitably get worse and spiral further out of control; yet if you were to provide local writers with legal walls and murals then at least street level surfaces would remain free of tags and throw ups.

As the case may be, so far there are still very lax laws having to do with dealing with writers, yet the mayor and the chief of police are taking notice and the cops are compiling profiles . Local watch dogs are filing reports, and the media is running stories. It may only be a matter of time before it becomes a real shit show.