Lies, more lies, and the Baltimore Mayor's Damned Statistics - Day 12
An ongoing compilation of the coverage of Mayor O'Malley's use of false/misleading crime statistics.
"On a scale of one to 10 -- . . . 10 being the best -- how would you characterize the accuracy of the city's crime reporting since 2000?" Mayor Martin O'Malley replies: "I would say we're somewhere north of a 9.8."
February 22, 2006
Jayne Miller continues her intrepid reporting with an interview with former O'Malley Commissioner Kevin Clark in this piece. It turns out, when Clark took office he started an audit of O'Malley's crime statistics. You see, O'Malley was trumpeting that Baltimore was leading the nation in violent crime reduction by 26 percent since 1991, but the number of calls to 911 were actually increasing. This seemed strange to the observant Commissioner so he started a limited audit.
According to Miller's report, auditors found that 20 percent of the rapes police had declared to be unfounded were rapes that actually occurred. Also, 15 percent of the robbery reports police declared to be unfounded were reports of robbery that actually occurred. The audit found that the crime reporting system allowed "almost anyone with access to make a change to a crime code" and did not provide an paper trail of who changed the code.
Based on these findings, the astute Commissioner Clark felt that other crimes should be audited, also. After he reported the limited audit results to Mayor O'Malley, he encountered resistance from O'Malley's Director of Operations for CitiStat and from O'Malley's Deputy Mayor. He was then shut down from pursuing the broader audit. Clark says that the O'Malley's Deputy Mayor "clearly said they weren't going to go any further because the mayor had already been out front and had told everyone nationally that Baltimore was leading the nation in the reduction of violent crime . . . and if suddenly we were to have an audit that showed the numbers were going to take some type of change, it would kind of leave him out to political scrutiny."
Miller reports that Mayor O'Malley responded by saying "Kevin Clark is not telling the truth. He never raised his concerns while in office" and that Clark was a disgruntled employee. It seems apparent, however, that Miller sought Clark out, not the other way around. Clark does not have an axe to grind and can back up his statements with the actual limited audit that he conducted.
WBAL radio reports that current O'Malley Commissioner Hamm says "bring it on." Hamm says he supports an audit of the city's crime statistics as part of a larger statewide audit of crime figures that includes those from every county in the state. As mentioned before, it is very important to have an audit of the crime statistics of the whole State, especially, Kent County (pop. 19,197), Somerset County (pop. 24, 747), Caroline County (pop. 29,772), Garrett County (pop. 29,846), Dorchester County (pop. 30, 674), Talbot County (pop. 33,812), and Queen Anne's County (pop. 40,563).
WBAL radio also reports that Hamm insists the city's crime statistics, showing a drop in crime since 1999, are accurate.
WJZ-TV reports that O'Malley's Commissioner Hamm appeared before the Baltimore City Council this afternoon at a meeting to address his performance and recent concerns about the city's crime statistics. At the meeting, a 2005 progress report was scrutinized that shows what Hamm calls "the lowest crime on record since before 1970--a 50% reduction in crime since 1995 and 32,00 fewer victims during the last seven years." Does anyone really believe that Baltimore has the lowest crime since before 1970???!?
"On a scale of one to 10 -- . . . 10 being the best -- how would you characterize the accuracy of the city's crime reporting since 2000?" Mayor Martin O'Malley replies: "I would say we're somewhere north of a 9.8."
February 22, 2006
Jayne Miller continues her intrepid reporting with an interview with former O'Malley Commissioner Kevin Clark in this piece. It turns out, when Clark took office he started an audit of O'Malley's crime statistics. You see, O'Malley was trumpeting that Baltimore was leading the nation in violent crime reduction by 26 percent since 1991, but the number of calls to 911 were actually increasing. This seemed strange to the observant Commissioner so he started a limited audit.
According to Miller's report, auditors found that 20 percent of the rapes police had declared to be unfounded were rapes that actually occurred. Also, 15 percent of the robbery reports police declared to be unfounded were reports of robbery that actually occurred. The audit found that the crime reporting system allowed "almost anyone with access to make a change to a crime code" and did not provide an paper trail of who changed the code.
Based on these findings, the astute Commissioner Clark felt that other crimes should be audited, also. After he reported the limited audit results to Mayor O'Malley, he encountered resistance from O'Malley's Director of Operations for CitiStat and from O'Malley's Deputy Mayor. He was then shut down from pursuing the broader audit. Clark says that the O'Malley's Deputy Mayor "clearly said they weren't going to go any further because the mayor had already been out front and had told everyone nationally that Baltimore was leading the nation in the reduction of violent crime . . . and if suddenly we were to have an audit that showed the numbers were going to take some type of change, it would kind of leave him out to political scrutiny."
Miller reports that Mayor O'Malley responded by saying "Kevin Clark is not telling the truth. He never raised his concerns while in office" and that Clark was a disgruntled employee. It seems apparent, however, that Miller sought Clark out, not the other way around. Clark does not have an axe to grind and can back up his statements with the actual limited audit that he conducted.
WBAL radio reports that current O'Malley Commissioner Hamm says "bring it on." Hamm says he supports an audit of the city's crime statistics as part of a larger statewide audit of crime figures that includes those from every county in the state. As mentioned before, it is very important to have an audit of the crime statistics of the whole State, especially, Kent County (pop. 19,197), Somerset County (pop. 24, 747), Caroline County (pop. 29,772), Garrett County (pop. 29,846), Dorchester County (pop. 30, 674), Talbot County (pop. 33,812), and Queen Anne's County (pop. 40,563).
WBAL radio also reports that Hamm insists the city's crime statistics, showing a drop in crime since 1999, are accurate.
WJZ-TV reports that O'Malley's Commissioner Hamm appeared before the Baltimore City Council this afternoon at a meeting to address his performance and recent concerns about the city's crime statistics. At the meeting, a 2005 progress report was scrutinized that shows what Hamm calls "the lowest crime on record since before 1970--a 50% reduction in crime since 1995 and 32,00 fewer victims during the last seven years." Does anyone really believe that Baltimore has the lowest crime since before 1970???!?
posted by InsiderOut at 11:04 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home