I guess I'm finishing today's round of posting with talk of crime because more than anything else it impacts all of Kansas City and the month of August is usually when this cowtown starts killing each other en masse.
There's Good News from KCPD Chief Corwin's blog:
Overall year-to-date crime down 25% in last two years
But, as always, TKC notes that statistics don't tell the whole story when it comes to crime.
Because I know Kansas City has a short attention span, let's not forget . . .
THE FBI DID NOT PUBLISH KC'S CRIME FIGURES FOR 2007 EARLIER THIS YEAR.
KC Star Columnist Yael Abouhalkah explains his take on the situation,
"The FBI did not publish KC's crime figures for 2007 earlier this year.KC Tribune has a money quote on the subject of crime reporting as well:
That's because the Police Department was incapable of keeping accurate numbers. The department used a new reporting method and couldn't do a professional job of measuring crime in the city accurately enough to give to the FBI.
CQ Press uses the FBI's numbers in compiling its list of dangerous cities. So it could not include KC in the 2008 rankings.
In other words, Kansas City is probably around the top 10-20 most dangerous cities in the nation."
"Kansas City was 18th on the list in the 2007 rankings out of several hundred cities. And Kansas City likely would have ranked even worse in the 2008 rankings because violent crime increased in 2007.Still, Crime Scene KC notes that "We're still holding at 72 homicides for the year, compared to 54 in 2007 and 65 in 2008."
Kansas City, Kan., was ranked as No. 42. But Kansas City, Missouri wasn’t ranked at all due to missing data. In other words, Kansas City failed to report."
With random shootings on local streets this summer, Kansas City Crime seems even more dangerous to the public at large as of late. And while any improvement in the reduction of crime is good news, I'm not exactly sure the streets Kansas City feel much safer.
good post
ReplyDeletethe police learned how to keep track of crime stats from the same people that gave us those who great projections on p&l district tax revenue.
ReplyDeleteWe have Beth's leadership to thank for this.
ReplyDelete9:24 has a point. Maybe.
ReplyDeleteWhat about 9:36?
ReplyDeleteKCPD has corrected the 2007 stats. The FBI accepted the revisions, and the State has approved all of their stats since. I know it's hard for all the gloom-and-doom types to acknowledge, but crime really is down.
ReplyDeleteExcellent point.
ReplyDeleteWhat does Beth have to do with this thread?
ReplyDelete10:29 -- obviously KCPD still hasn't been able to count. No way is crime DOWN!
ReplyDeleteMaybe we should hire another city consultant to teach math. . .