April 11, 2007
Tracking 7% Drop in Crime
You've seen the LMPD Compstat reports on WHAS11.com. I sat down with LMPD Col. Phil Turner to talk about how the department uses these crime maps and statistics to find trends and attack them.
Turner tells me that the LMPD Command staff meets every Thursday to review the latest numbers. They typically will use the previous two months to detect trends in crime (and where crime is decreasing).
"We like to think it keeps us on target," Turner said.
One benchmark they use is the previous year's crime rate. In the first quarter of 2007, property and violent crime are down a combined seven percent compared to that same time period last year. Metro Louisville has the same number of homicides now as this time last year, but Turner says Louisville has not experienced the national trend of a rise in violent crime.
Turner oversees patrol officers, the police often first on the scene. Each month, LMPD assembles a deployment schedule. "We put our people where the problem is," Turner added, saying the numbers might also trigger a change in tactics.
What Col. Turner stressed the most, however, is the need to localize police strategy as much as possible. Metro-wide statistics are useful, but division numbers are better. One size does not fit all.
"We have to stay focused on neighborhood problems," Turner explained, "we try to break it down into the smallest areas we can."
For instance, of concern in 2007 are residential burglaries in Old Louisville, which Turner says is complicated by a high percentage of rental property, thefts from autos in several subdivisions off Shelbyville Road, and both of those crimes in a relatively small area off Preston Highway in Okolona.
When there is more than one problem, police seek any relationships between them.
LMPD might look to its Third Division to see what's working. Violent and property crime are down an amazing 14 percent compared to last year in that division in Southwest Louisville.
Meanwhile, auto thefts which experienced a 19 percent spike last year, are down metro-wide in the first quarter of 2007.
Please let me know where you want CrimeTracker to investigate! joe.arnold@whas11.com.
Posted by joe.arnold at 11:23 AM | Comments (1)
December 02, 2006
Surprising Numbers from Metro Police
In a recent story about the LMPD Crisis Intervention Team, I explained how it's not a separate unit of police but represents a change in the mindset of police in dealing with those who might be mentally ill.
But when I asked to see how many of those cases police deal with, I was stunned by these numbers.
We constantly listen to police scanners in our newsroom and we hear many odd situations that never make the air, mainly because people are endangering themselves and need mental help.
I never realized how many of these runs police make until I met with the CIT Coordinator Denise Spratt and I saw the police records from 2005. I would have thought a few hundred of these cases, maybe two or three a day. In fact, Metro Police made 3,068 CIT runs in 2005!
That's more than eight per day! What also might surprise you is how few of those 3,068 CIT runs ended with police using force. Only 80. And of those 80, a taser was used only 25 times.
That report also includes an interesting breakdown of where the CIT runs are made and who the subjects are.
Demographics:
White Male - 1132
White Female - 941
Black Male - 521
Black Female - 446
Asian Male - 15
Asian Female - 4
Hispanic Male - 4
Hispanic Female - 4
Arab Male - 1
Total - 3068
Location (by LMPD Divisions)
1st - 476
2nd - 321
3rd - 393
4th - 715
5th - 227
6th - 386
7th - 324
8th - 202
The 4th division is based in Central Park in Old Louisville and stretches into the HIghlands, and as far South as Iroquois Park.
History:
LMPD officers shot Rodney Abernathy to death in 2000. He had paranoid schizophrenia and police were criticized for not being prepared to deal with those who are mentally ill.
Thus was formed the Crisis Intervention Team. Officers go through 40 hours of traning and another 8 hours observing psychiatric work at University Hospital, all to gain skills and an understanding of effective and peaceful ways to bring a mentally disturbed person into compliance.
Dispatchers are also trained to know when a call requires a "CIT" run. Their goal is to send CIT trained officers to those situations.
Posted by joe.arnold at 11:09 PM | Comments (0)
