KHOU reports on problems with HPD crime reporting
KHOU-11's Mark Greenblatt has broken an important story on problems with HPD's crime reporting.
Here are some excerpts (although the story should really be read in its entirety):
Is the Houston Police Department telling you the truth about crime in our city?
A six-month 11 News investigation reveals that the answer is no.
And some experts are now saying the problems 11 News Investigates uncovered at the department are as bad as the Houston Crime Lab.
[snip]
So what’s going on?
Well police everywhere compile and keep statistics to help them fight crime.
What arrests are up and which are down and where to help them keep you safe. But 11 News has discovered the Houston Police Department has gotten things so mixed up for so long that they may actually be putting you in danger.
“It looks worse than the Houston Crime Lab,” said renowned criminologist Dr. James Fox.
11 News shared what we found with him, and he’s worried.
“You can’t trust the accuracy,” he said.
Because he sees big problems in HPD’s crime reporting.
“It really is giving an impression of the situation in Houston that is wrong,” Dr. Fox said.
Greenblatt goes into much more detail on the discrepancies he found. The response from Assistant Police Chief Charles McClelland was, to put it mildly, unimpressive.
We look forward to hearing what Chief Hurtt has to say, but of course it's the weekend, and he has no doubt headed off to his home in Arizona. Maybe next week someone can track him down for comment.
UPDATE (05-05-2007): HPD sent out a press release (which a reader was kind enough to forward) on Greenblatt's story. It's reproduced below:
The following is the response to the issues raised in Mark Greenblatt's story.
The Houston Police Department stands by its reported statistics. HPD adheres to, and passes frequent audits by the Federal Bureau of Investigations, for their Part 1 crime reporting procedures. Since it’s inception we have complied with the FBI Part I Crimes and Assault reporting requirements.
Manpower Allocation
The issue is are crime stats used in the request for or deployment of officers. Out of the more than 40 inputs used to determine manpower allocation, the primary variable is “Calls for Service”. This variable includes (1) how many calls does the Houston Emergency Center receive, (2) what is the distribution of calls across the city geographically, (3) how much time does a police officers spend at the scene. Not all of these calls result in criminal offenses and a crime statistic. Some phone calls are for children locked in cars, suspicious person sighted, or other general disturbances, for which a police officer responds, but no crime was committed.
0 Arrests vs. 1000 arrests
This issue is referencing the fact that the Arrest data reported to the DPS for UCR purposes is in fact Jail Arrest Booking data of embezzlement arrests. The Jail Arrest Booking report correctly states that HPD has made no arrest-bookings into the HPD jail for embezzlement. Embezzlement suspects are arrested and subsequently released until their court date occurs. If the suspect is found guilty in court, the suspect is booked into County or Federal jail. County and Federal jail bookings are not included in the City of Houston Jail Arrest Booking report. Numerous cases were cleared by arrest, but no suspect was actually booked into the HPD jail for that offense. Only the highest grade offense made be used.
In the past five years, HPD has reported 4,300 actual embezzlement cases. Of these, 2,000 are currently cleared. 1,400 of these cleared cases were cleared by “Arrest”. This means that a suspect was arrested for the crime, NOT that they were booked into HPD jail. Hence the two reports, reflect different aspects of policing, and will never be the same.
DWI’s
This issue regards the higher than %100 percent clearance rates. DWI is reported on a calendar month basis. Many HPD DWI cases were initially coded as “under investigation”. By the time these cases are reviewed/modified to reflect that a DWI case and arrest occurred, the calendar month has ended. The updated arrest is counted in a subsequent month’s report, but the original “under investigation” case will not be counted in that report. As a result, it is statistically possible to report more than 100% “solved”. This same concept applies to yearly data.
Only the violent offender is putting the public in danger or at risk. The police department is confident that its current resources are being applied effectively and efficiently to control violent crime.
Note: We were unable to locate any embezzlement or DWI research by Dr. James Fox. His research on murder and violent crime supports the HPD position on its approach to violent crime. We also do not know what or how the information was presented to Dr. Fox.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 05/04/07 11:42 PM | Print |
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