4 ms·

A single Target downtown accidentally started reporting all shoplifting incidents and _tripled_ the citywide rate: https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/shopli

A single Target downtown accidentally started reporting all shoplifting incidents and _tripled_ the citywide rate: https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/shoplifting-data-Target-Walgreens-16647769.php https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/shoplifting-data-Targ... A teacher was beaten deaf by one of their students at a middle school and was stopped from reporting the assault to the police: https://missionlocal.org/2022/04/total-meltdown-at-everett-middle-school/ https://missionlocal.org/2022/04/total-meltdown-at-everett-m... The local crime statistics are not reliable. Even homicides, which tend to be hard to underreport, should be used very carefully since 600+ people die every year from "drug overdose" which is not categorized as a homicide but very well should be.

bombcar 4y ago
Data that can be manipulated will be manipulated; especially if there's power/money on the line. Even things like hospitals reporting stabbings can be manipulated, intentionally or otherwise; if "intentional stabbing" requires reporting and paperwork that "accidentally fell on a knife" both the healthcare providers and the victim may prefer the second - think gang violence where neither side wants the cops involved.
hot_gril 4y ago
Many stores there take special safety measures like locking items up. Unlike politicians and research groups, their own money is directly at risk if they over/underreact, so I trust those signs more.
- shuckles 4y ago
  Yeah it sure is hard to believe that shoplifting is a non-issue when all the stores are reducing hours and putting merchandise behind an expensive to install and operate lock and key system.
harvey9 4y ago
""drug overdose" which is not categorized as a homicide but very well should be" An abrupt 'rise in homicide' caused by changing the definition will just undermine the credibility of the numbers.
- shuckles 4y ago
  Dealing with statistical discontinuities with reporting is kind of unrelated to whether the existing definitions properly represent the territory they claim to map. Changing definitions can make the new data seem unreliable, but bad definitions make the data actually unreliable. Those are different kinds of problems.
  - harvey9 4y ago
    Unless the law changes to make drug companies culpable in this situation (which is my interpretation of the post I replied to) then as things stand the definition does indeed represent the territory.
    - shuckles 4y ago
      I’m not sure what you’re getting at, but pharmaceutical opioids haven’t been a big source of problem for at least a decade at this point.
- coldtea 4y ago
  That has historically been a motivation for organizations, governments, etc, to DO such a change, rather than to avoid it...
TurkishPoptart 4y ago
Regarding the second link, why would the school administration want to prevent this from being reported to the police?
- shuckles 4y ago
  There is an ascendence of belief that all matters of interpersonal conflict must be dealt with through non-police solutions. (This school used to have an on-site officer who was removed years ago.) It’s also probably bad for a school in terms of education regulations to have students, teachers, and admins regularly reporting assaults on campus. There’s likely a healthy dose of magical thinking involved as well about how to intervene when students are behaving anti socially. I don’t have a simple answer. I’m mostly surprised that the teacher’s union tacitly supports this sort of outcome.

bombcar 4y ago

Data that can be manipulated will be manipulated; especially if there's power/money on the line. Even things like hospitals reporting stabbings can be manipulated, intentionally or otherwise; if "intentional stabbing" requires reporting and paperwork that "accidentally fell on a knife" both the healthcare providers and the victim may prefer the second - think gang violence where neither side wants the cops involved.

hot_gril 4y ago

Many stores there take special safety measures like locking items up. Unlike politicians and research groups, their own money is directly at risk if they over/underreact, so I trust those signs more.

shuckles 4y ago
Yeah it sure is hard to believe that shoplifting is a non-issue when all the stores are reducing hours and putting merchandise behind an expensive to install and operate lock and key system.

harvey9 4y ago

""drug overdose" which is not categorized as a homicide but very well should be" An abrupt 'rise in homicide' caused by changing the definition will just undermine the credibility of the numbers.

shuckles 4y ago
Dealing with statistical discontinuities with reporting is kind of unrelated to whether the existing definitions properly represent the territory they claim to map. Changing definitions can make the new data seem unreliable, but bad definitions make the data actually unreliable. Those are different kinds of problems.
- harvey9 4y ago
  Unless the law changes to make drug companies culpable in this situation (which is my interpretation of the post I replied to) then as things stand the definition does indeed represent the territory.
  - shuckles 4y ago
    I’m not sure what you’re getting at, but pharmaceutical opioids haven’t been a big source of problem for at least a decade at this point.
coldtea 4y ago
That has historically been a motivation for organizations, governments, etc, to DO such a change, rather than to avoid it...

TurkishPoptart 4y ago

Regarding the second link, why would the school administration want to prevent this from being reported to the police?

shuckles 4y ago
There is an ascendence of belief that all matters of interpersonal conflict must be dealt with through non-police solutions. (This school used to have an on-site officer who was removed years ago.) It’s also probably bad for a school in terms of education regulations to have students, teachers, and admins regularly reporting assaults on campus. There’s likely a healthy dose of magical thinking involved as well about how to intervene when students are behaving anti socially. I don’t have a simple answer. I’m mostly surprised that the teacher’s union tacitly supports this sort of outcome.