New York police tout improving crime numbers to defend frisk

[VMI77]

Comparing numbers from the first three months of 2012 to the same period last year, the number of such stops increased 10% while the number of illicit guns taken away went up 31%, according to a New York Police Department statement from Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne.

Hmmmm...

So stops increased 10%, but # of guns went up 31% -- that implies to me that the "stop and assault" plan is causing 3 x more people to carry illegally this year than last.

If they wanted to show they were having an effect on illegal carry, the number of gun confiscations should have gone DOWN, not up.

You have to look at the politics. I think what they're trying to claim is that these stops are SO effective, that only 10% more of them yielded 31% more weapons --IOW, that increasing the number of stops has a high marginal utility. If they claimed that for 10% more stops they only got 1% more weapons, that would indicate that there is no value in increasing the number of stops, and what they're trying to do is justify MORE stops by saying a relatively few more stops produces a lot more benefit.

But the thing is, you can't believe any of their numbers in the first place...they're all crafted to justify whatever policy it is they want to impose.

You know what, I remember reading an article about one of the precincts in NYC. The guy who was the focus of the article (had been one of the LEOs there) got booted out because he blew the whistle on a little operation they had going. Basically, they were using random stops to "roust" people and charge them with crimes (mostly misdemeanors that generate money) to get their rates up, but it didn't do a darned thing to get ACTUAL crime down, especially violent ones...and the orders to do that stuff (the ousted officer claimed) were from up high. Its all about what they can spin to the press and the people, in statistics, not about what ACTUAL crime reduction is...REAL crime gives politicians an excuse to raise taxes ostensibly to hire more law enforcement (which they seldom do) but they do end up with more money to blow on a bunch of feel-good bull and "social projects". I have respect for law enforcement when they are catching murderers, rapists and thieves...not randomly stopping people.

I was actually thinking about that particular LEO when I responded. From the military to civilian life I've never been in any organization that didn't manipulate statistics to satisfy the people at the top, which is why I don't believe 99.9% of them, especially those quoted in the MSM.