Summary

This public affairs special, hosted by Edwin Newman, examines the crime problem in the New York area and attempts to offer solutions. Newman provides statistics on the annual increase in the rate of assaults, thefts and homicides in New York City, and discusses the perpetrators and victims of crime living in low-income neighborhoods. Mayor John V. Lindsay is shown addressing members of the Harlem Community Patrol, an organization that tries to provide teenage boys with positive role models from their own peer group. The program examines the role of police in crime control; the connection between the increased number of police assigned to an upper West Side precinct and the area crime rate; Operation Friend, designed to teach children living in the 24th precinct about police procedures; and a program in which South Bronx police officers spend a weekend in the country with neighborhood children in order to form a mutual understanding. Those interviewed include a faculty member of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, who discusses the college's educational goals; a 12-year-old South Bronx resident who describes the murders and robberies he has witnessed; 11-year-old upper East Side resident who talks about being mugged and threatened; and Milton Rector of the National Council on Crime and Delinquency, who discusses the link between organized crime and juvenile delinquency. Other segments feature citizens' groups and members of the religious community organizing private crime-fighting patrols. Commercials deleted.