“When Giuliani came into office, he looked at it from this perspective — no one wants to live, visit, work [or] go to school in a place that’s not safe. You’ll lose those elements of society,” Kerik said.
“People get fed up, they get tired, they get frustrated, they get scared.”
Recalling his experiences working as commissioner, Kerik added: “Police were locking people up for the lowest-level stuff. No one bothered anyone if they jumped a turnstile at a subway station, but what we realized quickly is … during the course of that arrest you would find out they were wanted for murder or gun possession.”
Boris Johnson’s theory of law and order was in a similar mold while he was mayor of London and then prime minister.
Johnson said in his 2021 Tory Party conference speech that “you have a Conservative government that understands the broken windows theory of crime.”
“I read a learned article by some lawyer saying we should not bother about pet theft,” he added. “Well I say to Cruella de Vil QC — if you can steal a dog or a cat, then there is frankly no limit to your depravity.”