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COMPSTAT: A HELP OR A HURT?
Nekia Kelly
CJMS600-9040
TurnItIn Score:1%

October 2, 2012

INTRODUCTION CompStat, since 1994, has been used to assist in police performance and reduce acts of crime. It is used to collect, analyze and map crime data in order to hold commanding officers responsible for their districts performance. (Peak, 2008, p.75) However, we all know that numbers can be adjusted in one’s favor as to make it appear that all is well, but how is that going to deter the fact that actions speak for themselves. Are police commanders really using CompStat reports to assist with how they shall proceed on crime in their jurisdiction? Or is it being used to make it appear that performance levels are at good standing? Also in conjunction with these reports what are they doing or will do to correct the issues. We shall take a look at the pros and cons of CompStat over the years to see where it has been beneficial to our law enforcement, how it hasn’t helped and what could or should be done to fix it.
SUMMARIES
In the aspect of numbers being made to look like all is well; the NYPD has been under scrutiny for such and a survey conducted in September 2008 was used to determine just how bad it really was. The department not only reached out to current commanders but also retirees to get their perspective on how things worked under their command. When the results were collected, Paul J. Browne, the department’s chief spokesman at that time did everything to dispel why the surveyors answered as they did. He stated that many were going off of hearsay and news reports, or were retirees who had been passed up for promotions. (Rashbaum, 2010) Some of the former commanders believed that CompStat bullied them into extreme performance, in order to be promoted and also accepted by their colleagues. The officers felt that they may have had to act “unethical” in

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