Looking for some real reality

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Reality just is. You can append all kinds of adjectives to it, but that is editorializing something that doesn't need it.

But it's the only reality we have.

Some people also try to distort reality to make it fit preconceived notions, but it has a habit of appearing to bend thanks to those modifying adjectives, but when the gilt is stripped away, reality never changed.

Here's a hard dose of reality for you:

Certain segments of the population are incarcerated more often than other segments of the population.

This causes great and tremendous consternation among that segment of the population. Certain squeaky wheels point to this reality as evidence of racism, racial profiling, discrimination and a whole bunch of other adjectives appending to reality in hopes of twisting into a new a form-fitting shape.

On the surface, covered here with a gilt coating of guilt, it's hard to disagree with them.

And ingrown toenails!

Get yourself some more reality and you can see the true shape of things.

Draw a map of any community, provided you use political boundaries. These boundaries are important, artificial though they may be.

The boundaries are VERY important because they determine another reality. Political boundaries decide where one group of law enforcement officers' authority ends. That is important. A City Police Officer runs out of jurisdiction at the City Limits (except in very special circumstances which don't matter here.)

Pick a city. Any city. Almost cities are largely divided into neighborhoods of like-minded people. Economic, social and ancestry are the most common neighborhood dividers. Call this segregation if you will. I won't argue that. Just for illustration purposes, I have drawn a city. The two big white lines are neighborhood dividing lines. They can a river, railroad track, major highways, or anything else that serves to say "This is where neighborhoods change."

A city anywhere in the US

The blue square in the middle is the downtown business area.

I arbitrarily decide the following. You may assign as you see fit:

Sector 1 is the wealthy part of town. It has on average the biggest homes, biggest yards, biggest incomes. Wealthy retirees, business owners and such live here.

Sector 2 is the poorest part of town. Smallest homes, smallest incomes, highest unemployment, highest number of high school dropouts, etc.

Sector 3 is the next wealthiest. On average is has slightly smaller homes, smaller incomes and so forth as compared to Sector 1. High graduation rates, good education, most people are employed.

Sector 4 is a bit less well to do than second 3. Unemployment, incomes, houses are very close to Sector 2. It has a fair number of High School dropouts. It also has a high number of low income retirees.

What state is that?

I remind you this is a fictional city. You might need more neighborhoods. You might need to move where the neighborhoods are. However, you could probably lay this map over most United States cities of more than 1,000 people and with some shifting of which sector goes where, it would fit. Geography changes. Demographics won't.

Now grab yourself a map from law enforcement and the dispatcher's office. Dispatch could be 911 or a police department dispatch station. Doesn't matter.

This new map shows you where law enforcement gets calls for service. In other words, the map shows where people call for a police officer.

Where do you think police officers are going to get the most calls? In other words, where are people going to call for a police officer most often?

Mark that area.

Teach 'em while they are young.

Put this law enforcement map over the City map.

The question I ask you now is: On your maps, where do you see law enforcement getting the most calls for service?

If police are going to one neighborhood more often than others, where do you think they will make the most arrests?

Check with any law enforcement officer. Show him my map. Ask him where he thinks the most calls will come from.

Does your map match his?

If they don't match, whose map do you think is more accurate?

Call it whatever you want, but law enforcement is going to have the greatest number of arrests in the place where they are most often called. That's reality.

A good representation of reality.