Compstat and Crime
Does CompStat Reduce Crime?
Does CompStat Reduce Crime? 1. What management, organization, and technology factors make CompStat effective? CompStat is effective in management do to the fact that it holds the commanders of the local precincts accountable for their areas. It helps to organize the resources of the precinct in order to benefit the community in reducing the crime rate. The technology that make it effective is that is compiles and analyzes data city-wide and produces reports that report on crime complaints and arrest activity at all levels within the city. It can be summarized by week, prior 30 days, and year to date to compare with previous years in order to establish any trends (Laudon, 2012, p. 482). 2. Can police departments effectively combat crime without CompStat system? CompStat or any other information system if this type, if used effectively, can be used to combat crime. It provides valuable information quickly that would otherwise take some time to analyze in order to be the most effective in a given area (Laudon, 2012, p. 482). Is community policing incompatible with CompStat? Why would it be incompatible? With CompStat data, law enforcement is able to locate “hot spots”, identify patterns and trends in crime, and be able to send more resources to the trouble areas and issue public warnings(Willis, Mastrofski, & Weisburd, 2003). 3. Why would officers misreport certain data to CompStat? Why not. If it would make me look good, get a promotion and a raise to manipulate data then why not. Sometimes pressure from supervisor’s and the public would temp some to misreport certain data. What should be done about misreporting of data? By holding the leadership accountable and not making CompStat a “whack-a-mole: type of policing and awarding prizes for misreporting data (Laudon, 2012, p. 483). How can it be detected? Some of the ways to detect misreporting is by doing a survey analysis or implementing virtual audit teams. Survey
Does CompStat Reduce Crime? 1. What management, organization, and technology factors make CompStat effective? CompStat is effective in management do to the fact that it holds the commanders of the local precincts accountable for their areas. It helps to organize the resources of the precinct in order to benefit the community in reducing the crime rate. The technology that make it effective is that is compiles and analyzes data city-wide and produces reports that report on crime complaints and arrest activity at all levels within the city. It can be summarized by week, prior 30 days, and year to date to compare with previous years in order to establish any trends (Laudon, 2012, p. 482). 2. Can police departments effectively combat crime without CompStat system? CompStat or any other information system if this type, if used effectively, can be used to combat crime. It provides valuable information quickly that would otherwise take some time to analyze in order to be the most effective in a given area (Laudon, 2012, p. 482). Is community policing incompatible with CompStat? Why would it be incompatible? With CompStat data, law enforcement is able to locate “hot spots”, identify patterns and trends in crime, and be able to send more resources to the trouble areas and issue public warnings(Willis, Mastrofski, & Weisburd, 2003). 3. Why would officers misreport certain data to CompStat? Why not. If it would make me look good, get a promotion and a raise to manipulate data then why not. Sometimes pressure from supervisor’s and the public would temp some to misreport certain data. What should be done about misreporting of data? By holding the leadership accountable and not making CompStat a “whack-a-mole: type of policing and awarding prizes for misreporting data (Laudon, 2012, p. 483). How can it be detected? Some of the ways to detect misreporting is by doing a survey analysis or implementing virtual audit teams. Survey
References: Laudon, K. C. (2012). Global E-Business and Collaboration. In Management Information Systems (12th ed., pp. 75-77). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Serpas, R. W., & Morley, M. (2008, May 5). The Next Step in Accountability Driven Leadership: “CompStating” the CompStat Data. The Police Chief, LXXV, no. 5,. Retrieved from http://www.policechiefmagazine.org/magazine/index.cfm?fuseaction=display_arch&article_id=1501&issue_id=52008 Willis, J., Mastrofski, S., & Weisburd, D. (2003). Compstat in practice:. . Retrieved from http://www.policefoundation.org/pdf/compstatinpractice.pdf