NCJ Number
175375
Journal
Governing Volume: 11 Issue: 4 Dated: January 1998 Pages: 14-19
Date Published
1998
Length
6 pages
Annotation
The New Orleans Police Department has established the police reforms developed in New York City and has made significant changes in its policing operations and achieved a significant decline in the city's crime rate.
Abstract
The central component of the changes in the New Orleans Police Department is a process known as Comstat. Comstat refers to the computerized statistics that help police keep track of what is happening; Comstat is actually the process that flows from the data. This process includes district or precinct commander responsibility for addressing crime in their territory, the tactics they use, and the weekly meetings that track how and what they are doing. Police Superintendent Richard Pennington has also worked hard to eliminate the police corruption that plagued the agency when he took over in 1994. The agency also redesigned its support functions, training, and internal communications. Its citywide Comstat meetings analyze crime patterns and study problems. Commanders' high expectations have influenced the attitudes of police officers. Along with the positive results, concerns exist about small-scale corruption, overly aggressive patrol officers, and other issues. In addition, extent to which the declining crime rates in New Orleans and New York City are due to the policing changes is not clear. Nevertheless, police officials support the program. Photographs