Saturday, March 21, 2009

The Stats Don't Lie. Or Do They?

I've asked Joe Moore and the last Commander we had in the 24th District to give me some information on these so-called dispersal's. Both were reluctant to even talk about them. So, I asked Evanston's Alderman Rainey to see if she could give me an insight to this police initiative. Here's what Alderman Rainey received.
In response to my inquiry regarding the 24th District Commander's Howard St initiative the following as of March 17. It appears that something is being done, lots of contacts.

How many drug and gang dispersal's has 24th district Howard Street Initiative generated since it's inception? Also, how many arrests are related to these dispersal's?

Cmdr. Sobczyk report the following: Since Feb. 1st, 231 dispersal orders resulting in 5 arrest for noncompliance, 583 contact cards, 10% reduction in calls for service and a 26% reduction in reported crime.
There you have it. Other than a lot of stats and a reduction in crime, we've had 231 gang and drug dispersal's. 5 of those 231 were arrested for coming back into the zone within a certain period of time. And one shoot-out on a Sunday afternoon. The over all results are a 26% reduction in reported crimes, said the stat hating commander. Come on, Joe Moore. How hard was that?

2:05 PM: 5 on 1 beat down at the Howard Red-line. Eye witness on scene says the one guy who took the beating - REALLY took a beating. All offenders fled.

6 comments:

RP Free Speech said...

The "keyword" here, Craig, is 'reported' crime.

As we know, not all victims of a crime will call the police because they fear some sort of retribution, especially if the crime is gang-related.

Robin said...

Craig, I think I knew once but have forgotten. What are contact cards...? I don't often hear them referred to on the scanner.

Craig Gernhardt said...

A contact card is a index of information.

What gang are you in?

What's your weapon of choice?

Any tattoos or markings?

What's your favorite drug to sell?

Stuff like that.

Seems like all we're getting from our police department is contact cards and event numbers.

Man On The Street said...

now when they say "dispersal", what exactly do they mean? If they tell a single guy who is standing on the corner to beat it and they suspect he's a gang member or looking for drugs, does that count as a gang/drug dispersal? Or do they only records actual dispersals involving known gang members and actual drug sales. And with all of those dispersals, only FIVE arrests, and only because the arrestees were to dumb to stay away? What about ACTUAL busts of weapons carrying gang members or ACTUAL busts of drug sellers in action? What are the numbers of that? Just telling them to take it elsewhere isn't helping, if that's merely what's going on.

Craig Gernhardt said...

"Just telling them to take it elsewhere isn't helping, if that's merely what's going on...."

It goes something like this.

"Hey, buddy, move it. Take your gangs and drugs to the next block. But, first, let me do a contact card on you and get an event number from dispatch. I need it for some stats at the next CAPS meeting....."


That 's merely what's going on.

Anonymous said...

But you and Tom Mannis do

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