This afternoon, Detroit Police Chief Godbee participated in an online town hall / chat through the Free Press. Several readers indicated that one potential solution to the senseless violence in the city is a change in from a reactive system to a prevention based system, particularly the "Broken Windows" theory.

See, http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/kelling.htm

When asked about utilizing this system, Chief Godbee stated that:
"We are working with Dr. George Kelling and the Manhattan Institute to in fact do just that. It is a proven methodology and for the next 18 months we are re-engineering our model from a response to crime driven model to one that is more [geared] around geographic integrity/accountability as well as strong enforcement of quality of life issues. It is not a zero-tolerance methodology as is widely believed."

Chief Godbee also stated in response to a question about the racial and economic inequality of some kind of zero tolerance system such as "broken windows" that the change to this methodology can be accomplished within the current federal consent judgments.

Does something like this make sense in Detroit and can we expect to see the same kind of long term results that places like New York and Boston have experienced?