Sabrina Ghouse

Sabrina Ghouse

During my walk, I also noticed the unequal distribution of stationed police cars. In a conversation with representatives from the District 4 Boston Police Station, I was informed that parked police cars could be physical indicators – a parallel to the “abandoned cars” indicator in the Broken Window Theory. Police cars, like street lamps or mailboxes, are fixed in position: each is assigned a specific parking spot to station throughout the day and night, even if the policemen inside change shifts. A representative at the police department stated, “these cars are static. They are different from other police vehicles used for arrests, backup and such”. I found that there was a larger police car presence around the police station (red dot), but also in parts of the area where I found fewer recycled bins and underprivileged communities. I turned back to the resources available online to confirm that the area with fewer resources and a higher police presence was populated by communities ‘below poverty’.