Page 235 - The Power to Change Anything

224 INFLUENCER

a neighborhood can send out unspoken messages that encour-
age socially inappropriate behavior, George Kelling started a
community movement that is largely credited for reducing
felonies in New York City by as much as 75 percent. Few peo-
ple are aware of how this influence expert manipulated things
to achieve such impressive results.
Before the arrival of George Kelling, New York subways
were a favorite venue for muggers, murderers, and drug deal-
ers. Kelling, a criminologist and originator of the “broken win-
dows theory” of crime, argued that disordered surroundings
send out an unspoken but powerful message that encourages
antisocial behavior. “A broken window left in disrepair,” Kelling
explains, “suggests that no one is in charge and no one cares.”
This relatively minor condition promotes more disorderly
behavior, including violence.
Committed to lessening the effect things were having
on the community, Kelling advised the New York Transit
Authority to implement a strategy that others before him had
simply ridiculed. He told community leaders that they needed
to start sweating the small stuff. He pointed out small environ-
mental cues that provided a fertile environment for criminal
behavior.
Kelling’s crew began a systematic attack against the silent
force, attacking things like graffiti, litter, and vandalism.
Officials organized crews in the train yard that rolled paint over
newly applied graffiti the instant a car came in for ser-
vice. Over time, a combination of cleanup and prosecution for
minor offenses began to make a difference. Surroundings
improved, community pride increased, and petty crimes
declined. So did violent crime. Kelling taught people to sweat
the small, silent, physical world, and he reaped great rewards.
All this talk about the powerful but often undetected influ-
ence of things is good news. It offers hope. If you can influence
behavior by eliminating graffiti, shifting a wall, changing a
reporting structure, putting in a new system, posting numbers,