Opinion: Police targeting lesser offenses can once again lead to a safer Baltimore

A law enforcement strategy emerged in the 1990s that employed stepped-up policing of lesser infractions under the theory that people targeted under this approach would be prevented or deterred from committing more serious crimes. “Broken windows” policing was a phrase applied broadly to the strategy used in New York City in the 1990s in reaction to rising violent crime and an expanding illegal drug trade that plagued some of the city’s neighborhoods. The city experienced sharp declines in murders and other violent crimes.