During the 1990s, crime rates in New York City dropped dramatically, even more than in the United States as a whole. Violent crime declined by more than 56 percent in the City, compared to about 28 percent in the nation as whole. Property crimes tumbled by about 65 percent, but fell only 26 percent nationally.
Many attribute New York's crime reduction to specific "get-tough" policies carried out by former Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's administration. The most prominent of his policy changes was the aggressive policing of lower-level crimes, a policy which has been dubbed the "broken windows" approach to law enforcement. In this view, small disorders lead to larger ones and perhaps even to crime. As Mr. Guiliani told the press in 1998, "Obviously murder and graffiti are two vastly different crimes. But they are part of the same continuum, and a climate that tolerates one is more likely to tolerate the other."
I’m just trying to be creative and maybe a little idealistic. I’m not saying not to go after the car at all or the person that stole it. But absent another good reason, I wouldn’t chase a horse thief until the horse was run to death; I’d wait and see where the horse turned up, and what finding the horse turned up. Tow drivers have contracts with the city and insurance companies already. People see a tow driver pulling away with a vehicle they know they stole, they’re more apt to hide than fight for it. Once it’s back at the yard, forensics can have at it. Same end result, car’s back, but thief gets arrested at a time and place of the PD’s choosing. Tow driver gets his bounty for a stolen, and Officer Friendly can concentrate on broken windows, assorted nasty scumbags and going home safe.