It keeps coming, and it keeps coming. from bluegoa's flickr.
As the economy sours, expect to read more stories like this one on meth and cocaine in New York City. Not only will increasingly time-strapped reporter types resort to pre-packaged stories like this, but police departments will be struggling to justify high spending on law enforcement as civic budgets tighten. The solution?
Pump news about crime waves and developing drug epidemics to whip up some fear and indignation on the part of decent citizenry, and keep plowing money into police and prisons. Reports on drug busts are simple stories that echo dramatic narratives people see dramatized on TV all the time, plus busts happen all the time, leading to the fear of a ‘crime wave’ – the neat connection to an economic downturn brought out in the Post article no doubt makes things worse as well.
