Don't Poison Policing With Racial Politics

Wow! I am impressed.

For years I patrolled the Clarksdale Housing Projects. CONSEQUENTLY, I arrested a disproportionate number of blacks to whites. When data is pulled they would not look at where I rode,( in an area of probably 98% black population), but the activists of this town would pull my data and point the finger and scream "Racist Cop!" They would lump al my arrests in and compare it to the City's racial mix-up and scream "Racist Cop!" Not only that, they never bothered to ask any of the legitimate people what they thought about the police. I can remember whenever they would give the name of someone interviewed in the paper, I would check the persons arrest history. In most cases the "interviewee" had a criminal past. Maybe before news stories are printed they should do the same. It is like interviewing the woman in a mumu with curlers in her hair after a tornado and portraying her as your typical Kentuckian. Everyone gets a good laugh out of it, and it sells advertisement, just like portraying scandal about racist cops.

Good article. Thanks from cops everywhere for posting it. If people who aren't the police would worry more about letting us do our jobs and less about telling us how they think our jobs should be done, maybe we could gain control over the rising crime rates. Of course, we've got to get some of our police administrators over that hurdle, too. This is 2005, not 1965. How can we wash ourselves of racism if we're reminded of it everyday? Haven't we moved past that chapter in our history?

Good old Crimestat. Where would we be without it. Does crimestat foster sharing information to other units or does it hinder it. Does a commander share information to investigative units or does he try to solve it himself. While everyone aggrees that commanders must know whats going on and have a plan to address it the Crimestat meetings (Dog and Pony Show) hinders units working togethet!

New York had something we don't have but need, a Republican Mayor. With Merger, now taxpayers can vote in responcable government not just for suburban areas, but for the city of Louisville as well. We need a mayor who will meet with people from all over the Metro area, not just the West end and North end of Bardstown Road. How about sending Chief White out to Middletown to explain his policies? They would run him out on a rail. If the citizen's of Metro Louisville want their streets back, they need to show their resolve at the ballot box. If they want crime to go up and their property value to go down, keep Jerry.

Anne Northup for Mayor!!!

Compstat, crimestat; whatever. I am so sick of hearing stat. Police work is not a number game, it isn't supposed to be a political game either. Common sense and communication between the officers and district commanders thats it. Unless there's a magic machine I haven't heard of, you cannot predict crime. Besides, if the beat cops were supported more, they know where the high crime locations are; don't you think they would be there more often if they were not having to watch over their backs for their own administration trying to jam them for doing their job?

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Crimestat works only if the numbers aren't played with. When NYPD started crimestat, which is nothing more than tracking crimes and holding police Administrators accountable for it, it worked pretty well. It worked here in Louisville until they started allocating manpower by the times on runs and calls for service.

THat is when commanders started telling their officers to call out on a business check 10-07(out of service) while your getting gas and a cup of joe. All that time adds up and eventually we'll get more people. I had one Major who wouldn't allow us to report a door pried open on a residence as a burglary if the victim couldn't readily find something missing. He wanted it reported as a criminal mischief. WHY? Because it looked better on his weekly crimestat report. As long as commanders tell the king his new clothes are pretty, he will believe it.

I am glad I have a commander and Lieutenants that are trying to use crimestat correctly. They are following the crime patterns, mapping them so all the officers can see them and assigning details to combat them.

That is what you are supposed to do.