ABSTRACT

The principle underpinning zero tolerance policing is simply that a strong law enforcement approach to minor crime will prevent more serious crime from occurring and will ultimately lead to falling crime rates. Most discussions of zero tolerance policing today regard the strategy as directly aimed at increasing arrest rates for minor offences such as public drunkenness, offensive language and behaviour, loitering and other similar offences. The New York Police Department model became a beacon for police commissioners and politicians from around the world including other parts of the Americas, Britain, Australia, South Africa and Europe. A significant part of the answer to this lies in the extent to which the notion of zero tolerance can capture the political aspirations of neo-liberal approaches to crime control. Zero tolerance can link into traditional arguments about the efficacy of ‘old style’ policing as well as being seen in distinctly efficient terms within the definitions imposed by a new managerialism.