By cracking down on minor crimes, by enforcing quality of life crimes-like squeegee men that poured soap on your windshield and offered to wash it off for a dollar, the police fingerprint them and held them until results came back. A small percentage of the minor criminals turned out to be the major criminals that had eluded the police. The fingerprints matched those at crime scenes, and the city turned into one of the safest big cities. Previous mayors said they had to keep the police force working on major crimes.