1st Edition

The Crime Numbers Game Management by Manipulation

By John A. Eterno, Eli B. Silverman Copyright 2012
    314 Pages 10 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    314 Pages
    by Routledge

    In the mid-1990s, the NYPD created a performance management strategy known as Compstat. It consisted of computerized data, crime analysis, and advanced crime mapping coupled with middle management accountability and crime strategy meetings with high-ranking decision makers. While initially credited with a dramatic reduction in crime, questions quickly arose as to the reliability of the data. This volume brings together the work of two criminologists?€”one a former NYPD captain?€”who present the first in-depth empirical analysis of this management system?€”exposing the truth about crime statistic?€?s manipulation in the NYPD and the repercussions suffered by crime victims and those who blew the whistle on this corrupt practice.

    Forewords by Sir Hugh Orde, OBE, QPM, President of the Association of Chief Police Officers for England, Wales and Northern Ireland and Commissioner Andrew Scipione, APM, New South Wales Police Force, Australia
    The Unusual Suspects
    Police under Arrest
    Numerical Performance: Distortions and Displacement
    Compstat Conversions
    Private Sector Performance Shortcomings
    Unraveling the Puzzle
    The NYPD’s Untold Story: Crime Report Manipulation
    Compstat
    Survey of Retirees
    Interviews
    Crime Victims Coming Forward
    Detective Harold Hernandez
    Hospital Data
    New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services Data
    Recently Released Historical Data
    The Letter of the Law
    NYPD Complaint Reports for Illegal Drug Use
    Admitted Problems with Manipulation by the NYPD and
    Other Jurisdictions
    Audiotapes
    Our Report Goes Public
    Performance Management: Pitfalls and Prospects
    Organizational–Managerial Consequences
    Field Operations Restrictions
    Societal Consequences
    Prospects for Reform
    Performance Management in New York City: The Use of
    Symbolic Language
    Police Performance Management: The View from Abroad
    Performance Policing in the United Kingdom
    Australia
    France
    Big Bad Bully Bosses: Leadership 101
    The Unrelenting Pressures of NYPD Compstat
    Bullying Behaviors by Management
    Leadership
    NYPD and the Media: Curbing Criticism
    The Condemnations
    Understanding NYPD–Media Spin
    The Nature of Police–Media Interactions
    The NYPD and the Media: Political Ramifications
    Promoting Favorable Stories
    Suppressing Dissent
    Marginalizing Criticism
    Conclusion—Conflicting Forces
    Compstat: Underpinnings and Implications
    Broken Windows Theory and Compstat
    Limited versus Unlimited Government
    Transparency
    Social Science Theory and NYPD Compstat
    Specific Examples
    Silence Is Not An Option
    Lesson Learned
    Issues
    Chapter Ramifications
    Appendix
    Index

    Biography

    John A. Eterno, Eli B. Silverman

    " … absolutely worth reading. It raises serious concerns which, if true, amount to a terrible management system which has been allowed to run amok—raising some frightening civil liberties issues. It should be read by anyone involved in law enforcement and public safety statistical analysis because it highlights many possible ways to game the system and then describes the unintended consequences of such gaming."
    —Nick Selby, in Police-Led Intelligence