During my summer in the city, I spent hours sitting by the Washington Square Fountain, talking to those who came by: 20-somethings walking their dogs, filmmakers using the park as their creative backdrop and other NYU students exploring the park for the first time. It’s a place I hold dear. However, last week, my friends and I took a stroll through the park and noticed something odd — nobody was there. It was eerily silent. The excitement and hum of energy that usually encompasses the park was gone, replaced by dozens of police officers patrolling the area.
On Oct. 30, 19 people were arrested in the park for alleged involvement in a yearslong drug network. The raid made national news and since then, the New York City Police Department has taken to surveying the park during its open hours. Despite good intentions, this will not only fail to substantially improve safety, but will also have adverse effects on the park as a whole.
There is little evidence to suggest that criminalization and overpolicing have any significant or long-term effect on reducing drug usage or addiction. In fact, historic initiatives that scaled policing on substance use, such as the “War on Drugs,” have only worsened addiction and disproportionately targeted communities of color. In the United States, those who suffer from addiction are often labelled as criminals, but in reality, the crisis in question often goes back to health rather than safety. It’s true that illegal drug use can increase gang violence and theft, but imprisoning drug users will only aggravate the epidemic.
Similarly, media coverage of the park’s drug bust only reinforces the unempathetic narrative surrounding those who struggle with addiction. The New York Post capitalized on exploiting people’s worst moments, featuring images of unhoused people in states of undress, unaware they are being captured on camera. These photos are not just humiliating, as they only show individuals who clearly are unable to advocate for themselves, but they depict people as if they were animals at a zoo. It’s easy for onlookers to stare and judge, but that doesn’t solve the problem, nor does it make the park any safer.
Drug usage can be a jarring thing to view on one’s walk to class. However, policies that defer to criminalization and excessive prison sentences lack the nuance and compassion necessary to create a safer environment. Solving a public health problem cannot only mean arresting those who are sick — it must also include things like mental health support, affordable housing and healthcare services. We’ve recognized this vicious cycle for decades, and yet politicians both on the federal and local levels continue to use the strategies that have failed communities time and time again.
Although the park might temporarily feel safer after the drug market was swept, the constant surveillance of the park will only continue to erode its culture. Evidence suggests that overpolicing and surveillance have adverse effects on its community. Now, those who contribute to the vibrancy of the park are too afraid to set foot in the square out of fear of racial profiling and potential arrests.
As an NYU student, I want people to be able to appreciate the park as much as I do — and feel safe while doing so. But the university saying that it’s “pleased” to see increased police presence is not only tone deaf, but goes against the world-changing mission that it claims to embody.
Although NYU does not own or directly control Washington Square Park, its statement inadvertently endorses this overpolicing. Despite claiming to support a trailblazing vision of the future, NYU’s views instead reinforce this new police state, disregarding the dangerous implications of a heavy police presence so close to campus. The answer to this problem is not sending more law enforcement, but rather bringing in emergency services, social workers and community organizers to make the park a safer, healthier place for everyone to love.
WSN’s Opinion desk strives to publish ideas worth discussing. The views presented in the Opinion desk are solely the views of the writer.
Contact Grace Carmody at [email protected].