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Uniform Crime Reporting


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I went to the Central 1 &2 Division October PIP (positive interaction police program)----and the way that the crime stats are posted is different now. I know Houston uses UCR--Uniform Crime Reporting ( I think there was a movement to have a different

method of collecting crime stats but i'm not sure what happened -- i remember a group of concerned citizens gave a report at a Neartown meeting a couple of years ago to get a grass roots movement to change how the stats were gathered and labeled) you can find stats on-----

http://www.houstontx.gov/police/cs/beatpages/beat_stats.htm

At the PIP meetings a booklet of the crimes in 1&2 is handed out at each monthly meeting (listingthe previous month crime-- what the crime was, where it took place etc)-- but now the way crime is labeled or characterized has changed-- there aren't as many unique labels--and some types of crime don't

show up in the data base (Flashing/indecent exposure for example or "general" as opposed to aggravated assault aren't in the data base) so I'm wondering what the stats really mean to me as a resident.

the capt of division 1 &2 always tells whether crime is up or down percentage wise but now I'm not sure what that means, if some of the crimes committed aren't reflected in the statistics that are in that handbook--Can anyone help me sort this out?

What method do other large urban cities use to collect data for statistics in their crime reporting?

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at the PIP the Capt gave an antedote about how crime reports from "Private" patrol officers (like River Oaks Police) aren't put in data base-- I wonder if this is true with other "Private"patrol officers -- Management Districts (Galleria, Upper KIrby, East Montrose) hire off Duty HPD officers that use unmarked SUVs and patrol their respective areas

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at the PIP the Capt gave an antedote about how crime reports from "Private" patrol officers (like River Oaks Police) aren't put in data base-- I wonder if this is true with other "Private"patrol officers -- Management Districts (Galleria, Upper KIrby, East Montrose) hire off Duty HPD officers that use unmarked SUVs and patrol their respective areas

A report of a crime by neighborhood patrols such as River Oaks patrol is not a crime report at all. It is simply a nice story. If you are reporting your crimes to courtesy patrols, that crime is not being investigated, arrests are not being made, and the criminal is not being prosecuted by the district attorney. The courtesy patrols should be notifying the police department of crimes committed, so that proper investigations and arrests can be made.

Note that constables are certified peace officers, and can make arrests. Off-duty officers will normally call in on-duty units, or fill out arrest reports themselves, if they are in their jurisdiction.

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  • 2 weeks later...

at the PIP the Capt gave an antedote about how crime reports from "Private" patrol officers (like River Oaks Police) aren't put in data base-- I wonder if this is true with other "Private"patrol officers -- Management Districts (Galleria, Upper KIrby, East Montrose) hire off Duty HPD officers that use unmarked SUVs and patrol their respective areas

It probably also doesn't include reports from any of the many other police departments with overlapping jurisdictions, such as Metro, Federal Protective Service, Harris County Constable precincts, numerous school districts, numerous colleges/universities, Port of Houston, etc. Not to mention all of the smaller cities that border or are surrounded by the city.

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HPD is at least reporting the statistics differently and has been for several months. It coincided with the launch of their crappy crime statistics/map web site. The way that they categorize crimes is significantly different making accurate aggregate crime trend comparison essentially impossible between the "old way" and the "new way" (at least for the public which is left to guess how the data compares). HPD also quietly tried to get away with not posting the raw crime data on-line which they had been posting on-line every month for years. However, under pressure from the public they were compelled to start posting the raw data again.

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that's what has been reported on fox26 during the past week. the claim is HPD is no longer responding to minor crimes and therefore aren't keeping statistics on them.

The FBI UCR is a compilation of major crimes, so I am not sure what effect this would have on UCR reporting. Only the larceny/theft category would contain minor offenses. All other categories are felonies.

The HPD crime statistics website is an unofficial report, and as it states clearly on the website, should not be considered an official or accurate report of crime in the area. It is also not reporting UCR statistics. It is only a log of reported crimes in the police beat. Arrested persons are not reported, nor are crimes deleted if a further investigation reveals that a crime did not occur, or if a different crime occurred than initially reported. Since the on-line report is raw, unrefined data, complaining that it is reported differently or is missing information is demanding more from the data than it was ever intended to provide. If you are looking for accurate usable data, you need to be using FOIA requests.

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The FBI UCR is a compilation of major crimes, so I am not sure what effect this would have on UCR reporting. Only the larceny/theft category would contain minor offenses. All other categories are felonies.

The HPD crime statistics website is an unofficial report, and as it states clearly on the website, should not be considered an official or accurate report of crime in the area. It is also not reporting UCR statistics. It is only a log of reported crimes in the police beat. Arrested persons are not reported, nor are crimes deleted if a further investigation reveals that a crime did not occur, or if a different crime occurred than initially reported. Since the on-line report is raw, unrefined data, complaining that it is reported differently or is missing information is demanding more from the data than it was ever intended to provide. If you are looking for accurate usable data, you need to be using FOIA requests.

it's the minor offenses that are not being reported accurately but total crime rate is what is being undercounted per FOX.

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it's the minor offenses that are not being reported accurately but total crime rate is what is being undercounted per FOX.

If they say the theft number is off, I'll give them that. And, sure, it would affect the TOTAL rate...assuming that no report is taken at all. Minor crime reports can be taken by phone. Just because an officer does not arrive doesn't mean the report wasn't taken.

NOTE: I don't watch Fox's crappy news, so I don't know exactly what they are claiming. I don't look at the total crime number either, as it doesn't tell me anything. The only numbers I care about are the felonies. If one city's police take every report of a school kid taking gum from a convenience store, the theft number would look ridiculously high compared to another city that does not. It is not a reliable number, whether HPD is counting them or not. A much more reliable number for how dangerous a city is are the numbers for murder, rape, robbery, burglary, assault and auto theft.

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NOTE: I don't watch Fox's crappy news, so I don't know exactly what they are claiming. I don't look at the total crime number either, as it doesn't tell me anything. The only numbers I care about are the felonies. If one city's police take every report of a school kid taking gum from a convenience store, the theft number would look ridiculously high compared to another city that does not. It is not a reliable number, whether HPD is counting them or not. A much more reliable number for how dangerous a city is are the numbers for murder, rape, robbery, burglary, assault and auto theft.

So is it network-wide Fox, or just the local segment? There is a huge difference between the local segment and the national news. I watch CBS every night, but it's always Bob French reporting the weather, not some upper-state Big Media zombie.

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So is it network-wide Fox, or just the local segment? There is a huge difference between the local segment and the national news. I watch CBS every night, but it's always Bob French reporting the weather, not some upper-state Big Media zombie.

local. i think isiah carey.

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