The Crime Numbers Game

Management by Manipulation

  • Price: $69.99 $62.99
  • Paperback: 282 pages
  • Also available in e-Book and e-Book and e-Book
  • Published: January 2012
  • ISBN: 978-1-4398103-1-6
  • Publisher: CRC Press

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Series: Advances in Police Theory and Practice.

In the mid-1990s, the NYPD created a performance management strategy known as Compstat. It consisted of computerized data, crime analysis, and advanced crime mapping coupled with middle management accountability and crime strategy meetings with high-ranking decision makers. While initially credited with a dramatic reduction in crime, questions quickly arose as to the reliability of the data.

The Crime Numbers Game: Management by Manipulation brings together the work of two criminologists—one a former NYPD captain—who present the first in-depth empirical analysis of this management system—exposing the truth about crime statistics manipulation in the NYPD and the repercussions suffered by crime victims and those who blew the whistle on this corrupt practice.

Providing insider insight into a system shrouded in secrecy, this volume:

  • Documents and analyzes a wide array of data that definitively demonstrates the range of manipulation reflected in official New York City crime statistics
  • Explores how the consequences of unreliable crime statistics ripple throughout police organizations, affecting police, citizens, and victims
  • Documents the widening spell of police performance management throughout the world
  • Reviews current NYPD leadership approaches and offers alternatives
  • Analyzes the synchronicity of the media’s and the NYPD’s responses to the authors’ findings
  • Explores the implications of various theoretical approaches to Compstat
  • Offers a new approach based on organizational transparency

Presenting a story of police reform gone astray, this book stunningly demonstrates how integrity succumbed to a short-term numbers game, casting a cloud on the department from which we can only hope it will emerge.

For more information, check out the authors' blog, Unveiling Compstat, at blogspot.com and their website.

The Authors in the News

The authors' studies on crime were featured in a November 1, 2010 New York Times article and their comments were published on the editorial page.

Their work was also cited in a November 30, 2010 Uptowner article about police manipulation of crime statistics.

Silverman and Eterno described a proposed strategy for improving community confidence in the integrity of crime statistics in a January 24, 2011 Daily News article.

On August 22, 2011, Eli Silverman commented on a recent rise in NYC crime statistics in a New York Post article.

On November 29, 2011, the Village Voice featured an article written by Silverman and Eterno on crime statistics manipulation and recent corruption scandals.

Eli Silverman was interviewed by the Plainview Patch in a December 20, 2011 article about people's perception of crime in a community.

The book is cited in a February 23, 2012 Wall Street Journal article about a lawsuit filed by a NYPD officer.

John Eterno was a featured guest on Talkzone Internet Talk Radio on February 25, 2012.

Eli Silverman spoke in a February 27, 2012 NY1 Online video about concerns regarding NYPD's stop and frisk policy.

The book was profiled in a February 27, 2012 article in The Chief, a weekly newspaper for New York civil service employees.

The authors appeared on a March 26, 2012 local ABC news program about underreported crime rates.

thePolipit blog discussed the book on April 2, 2012.

John Eterno was quoted in an April 9, 2012 New York Times article about the NYPD's stop-and-frisk policy.

Eli Silverman was quoted in a May 2, 2012 DNAinfo.com article about rising New York City crime rates.

Table of Contents

Forewords by Sir Hugh Orde, OBE, QPM, President of the Association of Chief Police Officers for England, Wales and Northern Ireland and Commissioner Andrew Scipione, APM, New South Wales Police Force, Australia

The Unusual Suspects

Police under Arrest

Numerical Performance: Distortions and Displacement

Compstat Conversions

Private Sector Performance Shortcomings

Unraveling the Puzzle

The NYPD’s Untold Story: Crime Report Manipulation

Compstat

Survey of Retirees

Interviews

Crime Victims Coming Forward

Detective Harold Hernandez

Hospital Data

New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services Data

Recently Released Historical Data

The Letter of the Law

NYPD Complaint Reports for Illegal Drug Use

Admitted Problems with Manipulation by the NYPD and

Other Jurisdictions

Audiotapes

Our Report Goes Public

Performance Management: Pitfalls and Prospects

Organizational–Managerial Consequences

Field Operations Restrictions

Societal Consequences

Prospects for Reform

Performance Management in New York City: The Use of

Symbolic Language

Police Performance Management: The View from Abroad

Performance Policing in the United Kingdom

Australia

France

Big Bad Bully Bosses: Leadership 101

The Unrelenting Pressures of NYPD Compstat

Bullying Behaviors by Management

Leadership

NYPD and the Media: Curbing Criticism

The Condemnations

Understanding NYPD–Media Spin

The Nature of Police–Media Interactions

The NYPD and the Media: Political Ramifications

Promoting Favorable Stories

Suppressing Dissent

Marginalizing Criticism

Conclusion—Conflicting Forces

Compstat: Underpinnings and Implications

Broken Windows Theory and Compstat

Limited versus Unlimited Government

Transparency

Social Science Theory and NYPD Compstat

Specific Examples

Silence Is Not An Option

Lesson Learned

Issues

Chapter Ramifications

Appendix

Index

Author/Editor Biography

John A. Eterno, Ph.D., is professor, chairperson, and associate dean and director of graduate studies in criminal justice at Molloy College. He served as a sworn officer with the New York City police department (NYPD) and retired as a Captain. His various assignments included patrol, teaching at the police academy, conducting research, and commanding officer of several units. Notably, his research for the NYPD on physical standards won a prestigious Police Foundation award. He is also responsible for the research leading to increased age and education requirements for police officer candidates. He testified at the New York State Civil Service Commission and before the City’s Department of Citywide Administrative Services in this regard. His work on mapping with the NYPD also earned him the Enterprise Initiative Award from the New York City Mayor’s office.

Eli B. Silverman, Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus, John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the Graduate Center of City University of New York. He has previously served with the U.S. Department of Justice and the National Academy of Public Administration in Washington D.C. and was Visiting Exchange Professor at the Police Staff College in Bramshill, England. He has lectured, consulted with, and trained numerous police agencies in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Mexico, Europe, Asia, and Australia. His areas of interest include police performance management, community policing, policy analysis, training, integrity control, Compstat, and crime mapping.

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