Conservative commentator George Will said he favors "Broken Windows" policing, but said it can go overboard with rules that create things such as black market cigarette sales.
"This is the intersection … of something very good with something very bad," Will said Thursday on
Fox News Channel's "Special Report."
"The very good thing is 'broken windows policing' that says if you don't repair broken windows, if you don't stop the people who jump turnstiles, you have a general sense of disorder and it spirals out of control," Will said. "But then when you add to that imbecilic networks of laws
— such as a law forbidding people to sell loose cigarettes
— then you get 'broken windows' becomes manic, and it becomes its own … cause of disorder."
The death of 43-year-old Eric Garner on Staten Island in July came after a shop owner complained he had been selling untaxed cigarettes on the street. Garner died after police took down the 350-pound Garner, who suffered from asthma. He can be heard repeatedly on cellphone video telling officers he couldn't breathe.
People such as Garner sell loose cigarettes brought from out of state or at Indian reservations because taxes in New York have raised the price of cigarettes sold legally to almost $15 a pack, the highest in the nation.
A grand jury on Wednesday declined to indict NYPD Officer Daniel Pantaleo, who can be seen putting his arm around Garner's neck in the police take-down. That sparked a new round of protests across the country after a Missouri grand jury declined to indict Ferguson Police Officer Darren Wilson in the shooting death of Michael Brown Jr.