If The Nation Really Knew...

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It can be very frustrating trying to make sense of crime statistics. I have been collecting and analyzing crime data since 1987 when I started GIS-based crime analysis for the Syracuse Police and have only stopped once I retired in 2017 from the DA’s Office. Back in the early 90′s I assisted a few other police agencies, including the Auckland (New Zealand) Police Department, in bringing their Mapinfo systems on line.

I often thought that the feds went out of their way to obfuscate crime stats, especially those concerning minorities. Seems I was right. And this leads to problems. When Willy Sutton, the famous bank robber, was asked why he robbed banks, allegedly he responded, “Because that’s where they keep the money.” Cops arrest minorities because that’s where much of the crime is.

“The big fallacy of all anti-cop activism is to ignore the fact that policing today is data-driven and police go where people are most being victimized and that is in minority neighborhoods. But the public is, by and large, clueless about how vast the disparities in criminal offending are,” she said. “The federal government could take the lead in educating the public about policing and crime.” 

On immigration issues, the federal government hides data about the scale of guest-worker programs, such as the H-1B program, and it hides data about green card holders, said Steven Camarota, research director at the non-partisan Center for Immigration Studies (CIS). Similarly, the federal government has muddled data regarding repatriations, he said, adding: “This is how the Obama administration made [the number of] deportations look higher.”

More here.