NCJ Number
174630
Journal
Policing Volume: 21 Issue: 4 Dated: 1998 Pages: 576-599
Date Published
1998
Length
24 pages
Annotation
This article seeks to determine if police agencies purposefully change official crime statistics to modify the way the public perceives police performance.
Abstract
A study focused on assault examined Boston Police Department and US Census Bureau data for 1990. It used logistic regression analysis and a wide variety of demographic, geographic, social, and police-related factors to explain emerging patterns in the change in classification of crime. Specifically, the investigation identified the processes police agencies use to classify crime and the conditions under which call-takers and dispatchers transform requests for service, and examined the impact of precursors to a request for services and of factors concurrent to the taking of a call. While statistically significant, ecological variables were not nearly as significant as decision-making by internal departmental call-taking staff. Social, workload, and contextual variables were also less important than internal decision-making. Tables, figure, notes, references, bibliography