The FBI’s Next Set of Crime Data Is Going to Be a Big Mess

May 12, 2022, 04:21 AM

Rey HRH:
Crimes committed / reported are not used to advocate for more funding or staff. Its "calls for service". In other words, how many times the phone rings. In my agency, a number was generated to track reports. Example: A burglary would be given the number (starting with the year) of 22-XXXX. The first report of 2022 would be 22-0001. Pretty simple! But.... Not enough reports were being generated to justify increased funding. The solution was: Generate a number for everything you did. A traffic ticket got a number. Check a bar and get a number. No matter what the mundane daily activity is or was, give it a number. Instant increase in calls for service! Boy, do we need more of everything! Creative accounting 101 for law enforcement.

May 12, 2022, 08:52 AM

architect

It's the same same in the "computer security" business, vendors hoping to "scare up" greater sales volume. Every mis-typed password is a "threat" or "attempted compromise" no matter how innocent. Think about how the media exaggerates things to get eyeballs, and take everything that you hear with a big grain of salt.

May 12, 2022, 10:12 AM

Rey HRH

quote:
Originally posted by YooperSigs:
Rey HRH:
Crimes committed / reported are not used to advocate for more funding or staff. Its "calls for service". In other words, how many times the phone rings. In my agency, a number was generated to track reports. Example: A burglary would be given the number (starting with the year) of 22-XXXX. The first report of 2022 would be 22-0001. Pretty simple! But.... Not enough reports were being generated to justify increased funding. The solution was: Generate a number for everything you did. A traffic ticket got a number. Check a bar and get a number. No matter what the mundane daily activity is or was, give it a number. Instant increase in calls for service! Boy, do we need more of everything! Creative accounting 101 for law enforcement.

Thank you for the insight. It makes sense and mirrors / explains a call in our VFW post to report back anything we did for the community or a veteran. Visit a veteran in an old people's home, inform the commander so it goes into a report. Set up flags on the road side, it goes into a report. I don't think it goes for funding but when they go to Congress to report, it gives the group weight in terms of its impact to the community.

"It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life – daily and hourly. Our answer must consist not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual." Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, 1946.

May 12, 2022, 10:37 AM

nhtagmember

if the FBI is creating the data, you can be guaranteed that its phony - much like the FBI itself

believe anything they publish when you see the tooth fairy giving out candy bars

May 12, 2022, 06:14 PM

DaBigBR

quote:
Originally posted by nhtagmember:
if the FBI is creating the data, you can be guaranteed that its phony - much like the FBI itself

believe anything they publish when you see the tooth fairy giving out candy bars

It is reported to the FBI by agencies. They catalog the data.

Cue accusations that "they" are doctoring the data after it is received.