NCJ Number
232604
Journal
International Journal of Police Science and Management Volume: 12 Issue: 3 Dated: Autumn 2010 Pages: 426-449
Date Published
2010
Length
24 pages
Annotation
This study examined whether the New York Police Department's Compstat is perceived by mid-level managers as adding pressure to lower their crime rates and if so, whether this pressure was perceived as contributing to inaccurate crime statistics.
Abstract
The New York City Police Department (NYPD) introduced Compstat in 1994. Since then, the NYPD and many other law enforcement agencies which have adopted Compstat, have declared dramatic decreases in reported index crime. Indeed, in New York City the claim is that index crime has decreased over 76 percent. Using both quantitative and qualitative methods, this research examines Compstat's managerial environment. The main concern in this paper is examining the extent (if any) of pressures which managers believe they are exposed to at Compstat, as well as how those pressures might influence unethical crime reporting. Results indicate that managers perceive that they are subject to significantly greater pressure in the Compstat era especially, but not exclusively, with respect to decreasing index crime. Further, these pressures help explain unethical crime reporting in the Compstat era. Tables, notes, and references (Published Abstract)