Law and Disorder: Is Effective Law Enforcement Inconsistent With Good Police-Community Relations?

This roundtable discusses crime reduction and police-community relations. Professor Chevigny asserted that violation of rights is an unacceptable trade-off for more effective law enforcement and advocated problem-solving policing. Commissioner Bratton discussed the compatibility of civil liberties and civil police and his work as commissioner. Attorney Lynch discussed the federal government's role in handling law enforcement as it relates to community relations by discussing the cases the federal government handles and the federal government 's powers and abilities in this area.

Mr. Celli discussed the Attorney General Office's study of the New York City Police Department, theories behind the New York City Police Department's efforts, and the findings of that study. Mr. Cochran discussed the role of private attorneys in this area and used personal experience from cases he worked on to elaborate on that role. Mr. Meyers discussed Mayor Giulianni's Task Force and the dissenting report's findings about NYPD's "quality of life" crackdowns.