Safety First

Throughout this reading, especially in Chapters 4 and 5, it became clear to me that safety is an overarching theme and community focus.  The support system that provides this safety employs police and religious leaders as well as hustlers and gang leaders.  The role that hustlers and gang members play in the efforts for safety are complex, because often they themselves cause issues related to safety.  One idea introduced in this text is the fluidity of private and public in the ghetto.  Venkatesh names a few activities we as middle class members of society have the privilege of doing privately but which many hustlers must do in public such as urination, defecation, and encampment.  He also mentions some more problematic and illegal activities also done in public: harassment, drug use and sale, and prostitution (201).  Communities do not approve generally of hustlers' presence in the area, but hustlers are a valuable asset to the community.  They serve as what Jane Jacobs called the "eyes on the street" when she described a peaceful, safe, self-policing community.  Police that Venkatesh interviewed would agree with Jacobs; hustlers serve as valuable informants: "they see everything" (203).  We can see an example of this in Bubbles from "The Wire."  Store owners as well utilize the availability and expertise on public spaces of hustlers to ensure safety and attractiveness of their business areas.  Making allies with various businesses and police officers, hustlers create for themselves a supportive system willing to mediate between them and community members frustrated by the constant public presence and disruption of hustlers.

I was really surprised by Venkatesh's police positivity.  The police of the areas he studies allow their duties to be supplemented by other sources--such as hustlers.

My question is: to what upper limit can a hustler's social capital or value grow without constant occupation and yet with constant value to police?  And to what lower limit can police competency of these areas continue to depreciate as they rely on other groups to mediate interactions?  The roles of police and community members appear to overlap, but at what cost and what benefit to the community itself?