The Crime Numbers Game: Management by Manipulation


John A. Eterno and Eli B. Silverman
 

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     FEATURES


  • Presents a critical analysis of Compstat based upon primary research
  • Uses data from the NYPD available only to authors
  • Discusses both academic and practitioner views
  • Contains numerous data tables and figures that reveal Compstat's strengths and weaknesses
  • Reviews current NYPD leadership approaches
  • Provides specific recommendations to advance police theory and practice
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For more information, check out the authors' blog, Unveiling Compstat, at blogspot.com.

      Author Bios
John A. Eterno, Ph.D, is chairperson and associate dean of graduate studioes in criminal justice at Malloy College. He is a retired Captain from the NYPD. Dr. Eterno is managing editor of Police Practice and Research: An International Journal. His books include Policing with the Law: A Case Study of the New York City Police Department (Praeger) and Police Practices in Global Perspecitve (with Dilip Das) (Rowan & LIttlefield).
 
Eli B. Silverman, Ph.D, is Professor Emerius at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and the National Academy of Public Administration in Washington, D.C. and was Visiting Exchange Professor at the Police Staff College in Bramshill, England.  He has lectured and consulted with numerous police agencies in the U.S., Europe, Central and South Americas, Asia, and Australia.  His recent publications include: NYPD Battles Crime: Innovative Strategies in Policing, Boston: Northeastern University Press.
 
 
 

The Crime Numbers Game: 

Management by Manipulation


Series: Advances in Police Theory and Practice

 

Published: January 18, 2012 by CRC Press, 313 Pages

 

ISBN-10: 1439810311

 

ISBN-12: 978-1439810316

 

Authored By: John A. Eterno, Professor, Associate Dean and Director of Graduate Studies in Criminal Justice, Malloy College, Rockville Centre, New York, USA; Eli B. Silverman, Professor Emeritus, John Jay College of Criminal Justice and Graduate Center, City University of New York, USA

In the mid-1990s, the NYPD created a performance management strategy known as Compstat.  It consisted of coputerized data, crime analysis, and advanced crime mapping coupled with middle management accountability and crime strategy meetings with high-ranking decision makers.  While initially created with a dramatic reduction in crime, questions quickly arose as to the reliability of the data.

 

The Crime Numbers Game: Management by Manipulation brings together the work of two criminologists-one a former NYPD captain-who present the first in-depth empirical analysis of this management system-exposing the truth about crime statistics manipulation in the NYPD and the repercussions suffered by crime victims and those who blew the whistle on this corrupt practice.

 

Providing insider insight into a system shrouded in secrecy, this volume:

 

  • Documents and analyzes a wide array of data that definitively demonstrates the range of manipulation reflected in official New York City crime statistics
  • Explores how the consequences of unreliable crime statistics ripple throughout police organizations, affecting police, citizens, and victims
  • Documents the widening spell of police performance management throughout the world
  • Reviews current NYPD leadership approaches and offers alternatives
  • Analyzes the synchronicity of the media’s and the NYPD’s responses to the authors’ findings
  • Explores the implications of various theoretical approaches to Compstat
  • Offers a new approach based on organizational transparency

 

Presenting a story of police reform gone astray, this book stunningly demonstrates how intergity succumbed to a short-term numbers game, casting a cloud on the department from which we can only hope it will emerge.

The Authors in the News
The authors' studies on crime were featured in a November 1, 2010 New York Times article and their comments were published on the editorial page.
Their work was also cited in a November 30, 2010 Uptowner article about police manipulation of crime statistics.
Silverman and Eterno described a proposed strategy for improving community confidence in the integrity of crime statistics in a January 24, 2011 Daily News article.
In August 2011, Eli Silverman commented on a recent rise in NYC crime statistics in a New York Post article.
On November 29, 2011, the Village Voice featured an article written by Silverman and Eterno on crime statistics manipulation and recent corruption scandals.

Authors in the News

Author's comments and book made mentioned in the New York Times article, No Room for Dissent in a Police Department Consumed by Numbers, May 7th, 2012.

 

May 2, 2012 authors quoted in DNAinfo.com New York article, Crime Edges Up Across the City with Spikes in Every Borough, by Patrick Wall.

 

John Eterno is quoted in an April 4, 2012 New York Times article regarding stop-and-frisk tatics.

 

March 26, 2012, SIlverman and Eterno commentary is aired on ABC Local News: Investigation of Unreported Crime Statistics by Jeff Hoffer.

 

March 1, 2012, the authors comment on Village Blog regarding Village Voice front cover story, The NYPD Tapes by Graham Rayman.

 

The author's are quoted in an article by Colleen Long, Associated Press on February 23, 2012.

 

Inside City Hall’s Errol Louis spoke with Eli Silverman from John Jay College and the author of “The Crime Numbers Game: Management By Manipulation, regarding the NYPD's stop-and-frisk policy.  NY1 Online, February 17, 2012.

 

February 9, authors comment on their new book in a post by Alice Brennan in the The New York World.

 

The authors are interviewed by Doug Muzzio on City Talk, CUNY, TV, February 1, 2012.

 

In August 2011, Eli Silverman commented on a recent rise in NYC crime statistics in a New York Post article.

 

Silverman and Eterno described a proposed strategy for improving community confidence in the integrity of  crime statistics in a January 24, 2011 Daily News article.

 

Their work was also cited in a November 30, 2010 Uptowner article about police manipulation of crime statistics.

 

November 29, 2011 authors comment on Village Voice Blog in reaction to front cover article The NYPD Tapes.

 

The authors' studies on crime were featured in a November 1, 2010 New York Times article and their comments were published on the editorial page.

 

August 27, 2010 the author's are interviewed on ABC Local News.

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