Public Space Research Paper

What defines public space? There is no concrete answer to that question. Though many scholarly people have tried, it is very hard to limit it to one single definition. To give the reader an idea of what public space is, just think of almost anywhere besides the comfort of your own home. Comfort is something you do not find just anywhere. To feel more comfortable in public spaces, police officers and other law enforcement are used to give you a sense of security. As we all know this is not always the case in our society. In fact, surveys have shown that certain races feel exactly the opposite. Many people feel uncomfortable and paranoid in the presence of police officers. This sort of issue should not be happening because these law enforcers …show more content…
One passenger that is a regular on the subway says “At nighttime, the train can be pretty dangerous, I’d rather take a bus than the train.” (Kopp) Although the crime rate has dropped greatly over the past few years, the subway still isn’t the safest place to be especially at night. Most of the crimes that occur near or on the subway are not extremely violent. A good majority of the incidents that happen are cell phone thefts. SEPTA has tried solving these problems. They attempted this by having more officers on duty at a time which has actually helped a lot. Their new strategy has become to place their officers in spots that crime is more known or likely to occur. Temple University’s director of Center for Security and Crime Science, Jerry Ratcliffe says “Crime is not random, even in the subway stations, there are hot places and hot times.” (Kopp) Having more officers stationed in the subway should allow all passengers to feel more comfortable while they are riding the train. Approximately thirty-eight thousand people ride the subway in the city of Philadelphia (Public Transportation Statistics) but not all of them feel the safest in the presence of the law …show more content…
More surveillance is leading to heightened suspicion by a part of our society. The author’s points on our African American and Hispanic youth not feeling comfortable greatly explain a lot about what is going on in current events. There are multiple stories recently about excessive police brutality against minorities in the news. It is felt that African Americans are being wrongly killed or severely injured by police officers. One of the only things that I think was wrong with the surveys and interviews is that they should not have asked African American teenagers that were a part of gangs. I feel that these kinds of people are obviously going to be nervous and paranoid when surrounded by authorities because gangs are known to occasionally participate in illegal activities. If they felt that these people were necessary to their research, they should have at least interviewed others not affiliated with