"I Am Not a Vigilante": Making Every Day a Patrol with the Town Watches of Philadelphia

Date
2014
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Producer
Director
Performer
Choreographer
Costume Designer
Music
Videographer
Lighting Designer
Set Designer
Crew Member
Funder
Rehearsal Director
Concert Coordinator
Moderator
Panelist
Alternative Title
Department
Haverford College. Department of Anthropology
Type
Thesis
Original Format
Running Time
File Format
Place of Publication
Date Span
Copyright Date
Award
Language
eng
Note
Table of Contents
Terms of Use
Rights Holder
Access Restrictions
Dark Archive
Tripod URL
Identifier
Abstract
As the "eyes and ears" of the police, town watches "observe, document, and report" suspicious behavior. Many town watch volunteers do not go on patrols, and those that do rarely, if ever, encounter criminals. Based on my ethnographic work with the town watches of Philadelphia, I argue that town watches are less about preventing crime and more about creating a new kind of civilian: one that makes every day a "patrol." I present my ethnographic findings through two stories: one about a patrol and another about a community meeting. Each of these stories is a collage of "crime fictions" that may be used to understand how criminal problems and solutions are determined by town watches. As an addendum to my thesis, I include a fictional short story that operates according to an aesthetic inspired by my fieldwork with the town watches of Philadelphia. Working against the high-tech fact finding and neat resolutions of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, my aesthetic imagines crime prevention in terms of nostalgia and uncertainty.
Description
Citation
Collections