Retired Police: NY Crime Stats Manipulated, Fabricated

how interesting: a researcher has realized what everyone in the criminal justice field has been saying for the last 30 years: the federal uniform crime statistics are directly correlated to the current political administration policy.

when the administration wants to show that they are tough on crime, the local departments are encouraged to report more felonies as misdemeanors, and to report misdemeanors as incidents without filing reports of serious crimes, demonstrating a positive and effective crime control policy. when the administration wants to show the need for more taxes and budget to fund more police and prisons, the local departments are encouraged to report more incidents as misdemeanors, more misdemeanors as felonies, etc.

anyone can demonstrate this simply by charting the federal uniform crime index over time since the beginning and compare any two periods representing times of different administrative policy.

basically the statistics prove whatever position the current politicians want to justify.

So I am surprised, when are the people going to learn cOPS are CROOKED, you keep setting up these stupid committees to oversee and watch then you let the biggest violators and thieves in.

Might I suggest you now let the prisoners run the prison and the can report on prison abuse. Grow up you DO NOT need no cop guiding no committee. Myself any self respecting cop that volunteers means the cops are guilty.

How many years was that cop in the Bronx allowed to run his drug ring, oh yeah and DO NOT forget the code of SILENCE on the BLUE SHIELD WALL, I trust NO COP, known they DO NOT defend they all have the Napoleon and Hitler complex. Then the Idiot citizen that sets up these committees is surprised you guys are as dumb as the cops you protect.

The shield and the gun is no protection period they have screwed up TAKE THEM DOWN..

Three things you can and WILL get from a cop and not in any special order 1) negative attitude 2) The hand on the GUN to enforce intimidation 3)their whinny mealy mouth I AM AFRAID attitude.

These are citizens asked to perform a special task they are NOT given the right to be above the citizen they serve, now if the investigation to this CRIME (it breaks a TRUST) so it is a crime should have ALL the Captains and Chiefs suspended and FINED HEAVILY and CLOSELY monitored on everything they say and do.The FINES should be crippling just the way the Cripple a citizen.

Juking the stats, eh? David Simon for Governor.

When you include crimes committed by NYPD hell yes it's higher than reported.

damn it! my stolen bicycle report was probably thrown away

And in other news...

ɟɟopɐɯ s,ɔʎu sı ƃɹǝqɯoolq

Neat trick.

Comment of the week.

Why is anyone EVER surprised when they hear that the NYPD routinely lies about anything. Lying is built into thier culture and is wholeheartedly endorsed by thier system. They may not be lying scumbags when they enter the force, but after being instructed to lie, taught how and when to lie, and told that they must lie to get ahead, that is what they ultimately become.

That.

A lot of immigrants dont trust police and wont report crime. Also if you rat on somebody the cops wont protect you afterwords.

This does not mean that crime is not down, it just means that there is more crime than is being reported. Theoretically, if the 1999, 2000, 2001, etc stats were as manipulated as much as the 2009 stats, in a way, you still compare them.

In general, murder is the most accurate statistic because it is the hardest to downgrade into another category. Despite what you see on television, the vast majority of homicides occur on the street in front of many people and are not cases of poisoning or suffocation, which can overlooked by the medical examiner.

erm, i believe what it means is that cops are told to lie about what to report. that's less than reassuring.

and despite what you may think i'm watching on television, i'm pretty sure that the "vast majority" of homicides don't occur "on the street in front of many people".

you're right though, medical examiners are all hacks...?

That's simply incorrect. I would say over 90 percent of homicides occur in front or in the close vicinity of other people. That's why usually when somebody gets shot or stabbed there are numerous 911 calls. In general, thugs are extremely brazen and do not care who sees them commit their crime. The cases similar to the murder that occurred in that Midtown hotel are comparatively much less common than cases of shootings that occur in streets, lobbies or hallways of apartment buildings. It is next to impossible to shoot someone in NYC and not be seen or heard by at least ten or so people.

I never implied medical examiners were hacks.

you're throwing around "90%" like it's nothing, first of all.

second, it's great that you tweaked "on the street in front of many people" to include "lobbies or hallways of apartment buildings". i guess that would explain why i'm not stepping over crime scene tape every couple of months on my way to work?

or maybe that can be explained by actually knowing what you're talking about... look up any NYT article involving murder stats - or any article involving murder stats from any source. over half of all murders occur between two people who knew each other, which suggests that these murders most likely occur in private. i think you're the one who's watching too much TV.

the point isn't really whether or not these murders are occuring outside or not (who cares?) but that murder isn't the absolute indicator of violent crime that you imagine it is. think of all of the other violent crime that doesn't involve dead bodies and can easily be swept under the carpet.

Where do you live? "Thugs" aren't the only ones committing murders "out on the street". Bodies and real statistics are swept under the rug all the time.

It is hard to fabricate murder stats, there is a body. Those stats are down

The murder rate doesn't count bodies it counts murders with intent and excludes vehicular deaths and negligent homicides. So, those states are not necessarily immune to manipulation either.

Vehicular homicides and negligent homicides were never counted as murder. Overall, there are significantly traffic accidents than there was ten or so years ago.

Right, they are not counted as murder. So, if you take your body and manage to classify it "negligent homicide," despite the actual circumstances, then you have successfully knocked a murder off your stats.

I meant to say "significantly fewer traffic fatalities"

btw, i do not know where to write this, but:

Dear Gothamist,

Can you substitute the link for "Likes" to "Recommend" instead? Some articles are too tragic for me to "like", but I would have highly "recommended" it. I believe that you will get more hits as a result.

Thank you,

--An avid reader with apparently no life

Shut the fuck up.

fuck off, dick.

Welcome to another Gothamist discussion by their educated, well spoken readers.

eh... i don't have a comeback for you.

hahahahaha

yeah. just lower the statistics. don't work hard on lowering the actual crime. and fire some more cops. 'cause people don't know it's not bacon.

it works!

...

Who would have thought?!