In this technological age we have the ability to stop almost all crime.
We have drones that can take 24 hour hi-def video of a 4 x 4 mile area and store it forever.
Imagine if we used that over a city like Cleveland for a day. We could trace every stolen car to its chop shop destination. We could trace every dope fiend to his dope house and from that house to a zipcode supplier and from there to a city wide million dollar stash - a real hit in one day.
We could trace a murder, from his shooting, through any public venues through which he flees like a bus or stadium, with on bus / in stadium video and facial recognition, to his destination. No witness issues like fear or lack of reliability - its all on tape.
We could stop financial crime by tracking dollars - you think that counter at the bank can't read and database the bill numbers for each transaction with a few tweaks? I'd be surprised if it didn't.
We can and do break every form of encryption and from a single site in America can access every network connected computer or device. We can stop child pornography.
Stop and frisk does stop crime. If it was in Cleveland a lot less petty death would occur. Maybe we don't need to stop it - maybe we need to expand stop and frisk to include us all, in all of our formats.
Or maybe we there is risk to life which makes it beautiful and that's why the burbs are sterile and everyone is bored. Let's decide to stop it all, or ask how much of our lives the government needs to be involved in if Uncle Sam is the only one complaining.
Either way, stop and frisk is a band-aid - the cure is much fairer, but not pretty.
