Community patrol or vigilantism?
With the economy tanking and funding for law enforcement at a low, there has been an uptick in neighborhood patrols. The numbers are close to the amount during the aftermath of 9-11.
Empty houses and criminals becoming more brazen and open have pushed residence to patrol together in autos, especially in urban transitioning communities.
Says Peter Scharf, a criminologist at Tulane University in New Orleans: “when you go broke, be creative. Outsource criminal justice back to the people.”
Others are not as positive. Some are concerned with vigilantism, which has flourished at times in the U.S.
The Nation magazine recently reported that after hurricane Katrina, vigilantes killed several black men for simply walking through a neighborhood. Several registered sex offenders have also been killed. Citizen patrols became a controversy in New Haven, Conn., in 2007 when the Edgewood Park Defense Patrol included some armed with licensed firearms.
