COMPSTAT MANIPULATIONS “DISCOVERED,” FINALLY
Hal Pepinsky, pepinsky@indiana.edu,
“peacemaking” at pepinsky.blogspot.com
September 28, 2013
Check out this week’s segment on
the New York City Police Department’s manipulation of crime statistics to make
them appear to be reducing serious crime while making more arrests, on “This
American Life,” at http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/414/right-to-remain-silent?act=2#play
. It has taken 13 years since I wrote
that these manipulations were probably occurring, in my article, “Living
Criminologically With Naked Emperors,” revised and reprinted at http://critcrim.org/critpapers/pepinsky1.pdf
. Ironically, this article was
originally rejected by the editor of a major criminology journal without
sending it out for review, on grounds that I had written nothing new. Better late than never. As the radio segment indicates, the charade
of demonstrating the effectiveness of policing by manipulation of crime and
arrest numbers is finally becoming recognized to be characteristic of police
departments who have adopted Compstat worldwide. We criminologists of all people ought to recognize
the inherent political fallibility of crime and criminality counts. Love and peace--hal
(From Sam Luckey: I seem to only be able to post as anonymous--I am long time friend of Hal from his IU days) I took notes of Book TV airing on author Graham Rayman concerning his book THE NYPD TAPES: A SHOCKING STORY OF COPS, COVER-UPS AND COURAGE. It details former NYPD Adrian Schoolcraft (SPELL?) who became a whistleblower on the manipulation of crime data, illegal quotas, and making minor (summons-tickets) arrests to make it appear crime is declining while downgrading if not refusing to take reports on serious crime. Schoolcraft recorded 1200 hours of "Roll Calls" (117) where Police commanders stress what the patrolmen were supposed to stress and what they should ignore. The manipulation of crime data really got into overdrive when statistics bottomed out concerning their alleged lower crime rate. When Schoolcraft refused to play the statistic game he was taken out of his patrol car and placed by himself in high crime evening shifts as punishment. He filed complaints with the "Quality Assurance Division" of NYPD and their internal affairs. He was punished for going to internal affairs by internal affairs staff leaving public messages at his precinct to call back, meaning they were alerting his precinct that they had a snitch. When the pressure on him got to bad, he went to his fathers house out of state to hide out. NYPD sent a 12-man SWAT emergency services group to his house without warrant, they got a key from landlord, let themselves in and Schoolcraft was forced into a chair, subdued and taken to a mental health hospital and forced into six days of psychiatric services. Schoolcraft's recordings were heard by the judge in Floyd VS City of NY (Stop & Frisk court case) who stated the tapes were the smoking gun of civil rights violations that may require a Federal monitor. In my book LUCID AGENTS PEACEKEEPING I wrote that I feared clever staticians may become more important than actual on the street realities. Another NYPD officer (Adell spell?) reported on a suspect who had attempted at knife-point six rapes, which the responding patrolman was told to downgrade as misdemeanors meaning the suspect was never searched for nor was the sex-crimes team ever notified that they had six similar attempted rapes by an unknown suspect. Sam
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