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In Atlanta, the crime statistics are down because the recently-departed police chief set up a system where his performance (and that of his underlings, all the

In Atlanta, the crime statistics are down because the recently-departed police chief set up a system where his performance (and that of his underlings, all the way down) was measured based on the information that made it into the computer system. Apparently, he has made a career out of installing this system when he is appointed in a new city. As with defect tracking systems in many businesses, there is a tendency from the top down to game the system, redefine terms, and reclassify crime reports as lesser crimes or mere 'incident' reports. When your job and compensation starts to depend on statistics emitted by a computer, self-preservation leads to dishonesty. The administration in Atlanta continues to resist the creation of a citizen review board with actual teeth--one that can do more than sit in review of a few high-profile incidents and instead focus on seeking independent crime statistics to really guage the performance of the police department. I don't know about other cities, but I suspect the use of such crime stats packages is common in many jurisdictions.

DanielBMarkham 17y ago
Obligatory Scott Adams cartoon (one of my favorites) http://runningagile.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/dilbert-appraisal2.png http://runningagile.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/dilbert-appr... Systemically measuring things can have the opposite effect than what was desired. EDIT: Fixed link
- stratomorph 17y ago
  You may want to get a different link; that one threatens goatse in response to hotlinking. Edit: Praise internets, link is fixed!
halo 17y ago
While your cynicism about official crime statistics may be well placed, there are ways of measuring crime that are practically impossible to manipulate, such as crime surveys which ask a random sample of the population if they have been the victims of crime in the last year. Both the US-based National Crime Victimization Survey (http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/ http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/) and the British Crime Survey (http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/soti.html http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/soti.html) are of this type, and they have both shown a consistent downward trend in most types of crime. In addition, the figures for some classes of crime, such as homicides, can't be manipulated either, and these have also been decreasing in recent years.
- masterponomo 17y ago
  Public perception of crime is not based on the murder statistics (though of course the occasional senseless killing during a robbery raises more outrage than the garden-variety domestic violence murder). Perception of crime in my neighborhood (Centennial Park/Marietta Artery) is based on the ability to walk down the street without being accosted by a beggar, or to park your car without having it broken into, or to walk the sidewalk after dark without fear of being robbed. I'm in a fairly secure condo building so fear of a break-in is not that great, but in surrounding neighborhoods of free-standing houses, break-ins are rampant. Just as you met my statement of reality with more references to statistics, the police and the city government here continue to give each other pats on the back as the populace grows ever more wary based on what we see on the streets out our windows with our own eyes, not based on the media or the official stats. We don't have a math problem--we have a police manpower, quality of life, and law enforcement problem.
klenwell 17y ago
This was an issue covered masterfully in the 3rd season of The Wire. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wire_(season_3) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wire_(season_3)
- cma 17y ago
  Bill Moyers interviews David Simon: http://video.pbs.org/video/1134533920/ http://video.pbs.org/video/1134533920/

DanielBMarkham 17y ago

Obligatory Scott Adams cartoon (one of my favorites) http://runningagile.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/dilbert-appraisal2.png http://runningagile.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/dilbert-appr... Systemically measuring things can have the opposite effect than what was desired. EDIT: Fixed link

stratomorph 17y ago
You may want to get a different link; that one threatens goatse in response to hotlinking. Edit: Praise internets, link is fixed!

halo 17y ago

While your cynicism about official crime statistics may be well placed, there are ways of measuring crime that are practically impossible to manipulate, such as crime surveys which ask a random sample of the population if they have been the victims of crime in the last year. Both the US-based National Crime Victimization Survey (http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/ http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/) and the British Crime Survey (http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/soti.html http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/soti.html) are of this type, and they have both shown a consistent downward trend in most types of crime. In addition, the figures for some classes of crime, such as homicides, can't be manipulated either, and these have also been decreasing in recent years.

masterponomo 17y ago
Public perception of crime is not based on the murder statistics (though of course the occasional senseless killing during a robbery raises more outrage than the garden-variety domestic violence murder). Perception of crime in my neighborhood (Centennial Park/Marietta Artery) is based on the ability to walk down the street without being accosted by a beggar, or to park your car without having it broken into, or to walk the sidewalk after dark without fear of being robbed. I'm in a fairly secure condo building so fear of a break-in is not that great, but in surrounding neighborhoods of free-standing houses, break-ins are rampant. Just as you met my statement of reality with more references to statistics, the police and the city government here continue to give each other pats on the back as the populace grows ever more wary based on what we see on the streets out our windows with our own eyes, not based on the media or the official stats. We don't have a math problem--we have a police manpower, quality of life, and law enforcement problem.

klenwell 17y ago

This was an issue covered masterfully in the 3rd season of The Wire. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wire_(season_3) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wire_(season_3)

cma 17y ago
Bill Moyers interviews David Simon: http://video.pbs.org/video/1134533920/ http://video.pbs.org/video/1134533920/