City changes Code Enforcement mission statement

Updated text omits ‘broken windows’ portion of original document

Santa Clarita omitted the “broken windows” portion of its Code Enforcement mission statement, city officials said recently.

The change came after Lucy Yoshioka, 19, a Meadows Park resident and UCLA student, raised a concern about transparency to city officials nearly two weeks before the statement via a 16-page report that challenged the basis of the department’s procedures, citing the theory’s criticism of tough policing and harm to communities of color.

“I was met with the striking discovery that the city of Santa Clarita explicitly cites the (theory) twice as the methodology and logic as to which Code Enforcement is executed in this city. This revelation is troubling, as the (theory) is antiquated in nature and does not contain a solid basis for policing, or code enforcement, in cities.”

According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, the broken windows theory states that visible signs of disorder and misbehavior — “broken windows” — encourage further crime and disorder, including serious crimes.

Psychology Today reports that, although the theory was widely used to explain criminal behavior and to inform policing policies in the 1990s, evidence backing the theory is scarce and it has been increasingly discredited.

A portion of the original mission statement stated:

“Studies have shown a marked decline in crimes against property and its inhabitants when properties are properly maintained. By addressing the ‘Broken Windows Theory,’ Code Enforcement staff greatly reduce the negative impact that unmaintained properties have on our community.”

City Manager Ken Striplin responded to Yoshioka via email, stating while the city website cited the broken windows theory, “it is merely one source used to inform operations and does not accurately reflect the ‘backbone’ of operations,” adding that “officers are reactive and only address violations observed by neighbors” and work collaboratively rather than punitively.

Striplin expressed appreciation for the student’s “intellectual debate” and shared that the mission statement had been updated. Yoshioka said she “was pleased to see a person in power respond and make that small change.”

“Moving forward, I’d like to see more transparency and better training, like conflict deescalation where we see, for example, Code Enforcement officers respond before law enforcement does,” Yoshioka said.

Her research into the matter stemmed from an incident in which she and her friends had posted Black Lives Matter flyers in a local neighborhood only to find sheriff’s deputies showed up to remove the flyers, Yoshioka said.