[Scan-DC] Statistics

[Lee Williams]

   Well  as  a former resident and employee of the County I want to weigh
   in  on this one. Just a little "common sense" may be in order. Fairfax
   County  is  the largest in population jurisdiction in the Commonwealth
   of  Virginia.  That said the amount of "crime" that occurs in the City
   of  Fairfax,  towns  of  Herndon  and  Vienna  and on Fort Belvoir are
   miniscule compared to what occurs in Fairfax County which is still one
   of the safest large jursidctions (defined as population over 1 million
   residents)  in  the USA. My point being "when you read a press release
   about crime statistics "in the county" but meaning only Fairfax County
   PD  service  area  you  probably have captured 90 to 95% of all of the
   serious crimes period. Just think about it for a minute. Do you really
   think Fairfax City, Herndon and Vienna have "a lot more serious crime"
   then  Fairfax County? I know the obvious answer is the correct one, no
   they do not.
       ______________________________________________________________

     From:  Steve Rigby <srigby at smart.net>
     To:  Scan-DC <scan-dc at mailman.qth.net>
     Subject:  Re: [Scan-DC] Statistics
     Date:  Tue, 18 Jul 2006 22:13:50 -0400
     >
     >On Jul 18, 2006, at 9:49 PM, Frank Carson wrote:
     >
     >>BINGO!!  The  "Official  Crime  Statistics"  that  most  agencies
     report
     >>are based
     >>upon the "Uniform Crime Reporting" standards.  It's a federal
     >>thing<g>.  The
     >>agency collects and assembles crime stats and forwards it to the
     >>State, who
     >>then  compile  the  data  and  send  it  on  up to the Feds to be
     included
     >>in the
     >>nationwide  reports.  The  Agency  is  only  required  to  report
     offenses
     >>that
     >>were   handled  by  that  Agency  under  their  ORI  number  (all
     departments
     >>nationwide have unique ORI numbers).  If the County has
     >>municipalities which
     >>have their own police department THAT municipality is required to
     >>report
     >>their own UCR Stats seperately.  For example, the Prince George's
     >>County
     >>Police DO NOT report Hyattsville City's robberies, etc.  Since
     >>Hyattsville
     >>City  has  their  own  police department Hyattsville City reports
     THEIR
     >>OWN
     >>robberies, etc. That's how it works.
     >
     >   Thanks, Frank.  I understand, more so now that you have added
     >your good information.
     >
     >    The  point  I  was  making  to the editor of the paper, to the
     county
     >Supervisor  and  to  the Chief was actually quite simple.  Lacking
     any
     >type of disclaimer or clear and concise explanation, the term "in
     >the county" greatly misleads the public.  It is not a matter of a
     >misunderstanding of what is being said, it is more a matter of not
     >stating the actual facts to begin with.  To my way of reading and
     >thinking,  "in  the  county"  or "within the county" means exactly
     that,
     >and nothing else.
     >
     >   I just think that for informational purposes, the wording of
     >releases  to  the  public should be changed to convey the truth of
     the
     >matter, that's all.  Since the FCPD and the county government are
     >releasing figures and statistics, in part, in order to inform the
     >public about what is happening in the county, and since they want
     >the  input  of the public, complete disclosure needs to be part of
     the
     >equation.
     >
     >    Surely  the  county  government can supply figures to citizens
     that
     >are inclusive of the county in its entirety if they wanted to.
     >After all, some of the most densely populated areas and commercial
     >establishments  that  are  targets  of  crime are in the towns and
     cities
     >of the county.
     >
     >   Steve
     >
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