Your Thoughts on CompStat for Small & Medium Size Agencies?

[gare442]

Does your agency use CompStat?

Do you think it is an effective tool for law enforcement?

Effective for small or medium size agencies?

Pros/Cons of CompStat?

Any thoughts on CompStat are welcome.

[ateamer]

There is no need for CompStat. Good supervisors and managers know what is going on and what their troops are doing without a computer spitting out numbers. How in the world did law enforcement ever get led, supervised, or managed before computers?

[SHU]

It may start off good but in time most depts become a slave to the numbers and manipulate them to keep in good graces of the people who are pulling the strings. aka mayor, city council, voters etc..

[Loose Cannon]

It actually works pretty well. The only thing is, everyone is strongly encouraged to find something to add, so they feel obligated to find something to put in. It almost becomes a competition thing among shift COs to have lots of stuff to add. So, it kinda gets to the point where it's 25% really good stuff and 75% crap. The administrators and detectives attend the actual meeting and then a cd is burned with the power point on it for the shifts to watch at roll call.

[Chief Wiggum]

We just went to it. I can already see it is going to end up just like SHU said.

[EnWhyPeeDee]

I am very well versed in CompStat. Send me a private message and I can give you a lot specific info and may even be able to provide you with some files/programs.

[VegasMetro]

Comp stat is old info, regardless if it's a week or a day, you are talking about crimes that have already happened. You will always be chasing your tail. We use it, but sometimes it gets ridiculous on the accountability side. It may help identify trends or chronic problem areas, but if you have good cops, they know the hot spots on crime. I am not a fan of it. Intelligence lead policing is a good tool, but most people confusing that with Data Lead Policing or Comp stat.

[PPDSWD]

My department loves comp stat. What I have noticed is the bosses become to fixated on "numbers" or quantity and less on quality.

[iamacop]

We have it, our department has 250 allotted sworn. Not a big agency, but not small. It's a waste of money. As stated above, your boys on the street knows what's going on..

[gare442]

I am very well versed in CompStat. Send me a private message and I can give you a lot specific info and may even be able to provide you with some files/programs.

Message sent. Thanks.

[EnWhyPeeDee]

Message sent. Thanks.

I sent you an email with a few files. Plenty more if you are interested in what I have.

[ftlaudcop]

nothing good will come out of it, our former fearless leader and now
convicted felon ' ken jenne' did nothing but bad with it and damn near ruined a agency with it.

[EnWhyPeeDee]

This basically sums up NYPD CompStat

http://theerant.yuku.com/topic/24064

[Sakic]

I hate everything about Comp Stat. I really does lead to needless arrests and for us, it has created a jacked up schedule.

The opposing shifts really do compete for arrest stats, which leads to tons of stupid misdemeanor public drunk type arrests.

Not only that, on our double days, one shift is assigned to the Comp Stat area, which is usually a single neighborhood. So then you end up with at least 10 officers driving around doing nothing because the criminal element has figured out what days are double days and they know when to go inside.

I think that it is a horrible program and it can single out officers who work hard, but just don't make the BS numbers.

BTW my department is about 350 officers.

[Akwehawk]

Compstat. Eh. My ex-department (thank god) has about 1400 sworn personnel, and I was not a supervisor, but I did attend some of the meetings, had to assist the cad officers in preparing the paperwork, and can speak about it from the bottom of the chain of command.

The chief had a habit of chastizing the commanders during the sometimes televised meetings, especially if the commander didnt have an "acceptable" answer. The commanders learned not to share information with other precincts, because they wanted to be the one deliver the news to the chief during the next meeting, and save their @ss for one more week. And we all know that criminals never like to cross imaginary police boundaries. There were examples of robberies that one precinct had solved, but didnt share it with another, so they could nab him and make the other precinct look bad when they solved their crimes for them.

By the way, it all rolled downhill. Commander to the lt, to the district sgt, to the poor officer who had to come up with a suspect or solve whatever crime it was. I came in to work not knowing if I was going to be disciplined for not stopping enough cars, or not making enough arrests, or not stopping a rash of burglaries, not answering enough calls, etc. All so the chief was able to cite statistic after statistic about how crime was down, and we all know we can make numbers say whatever we want them to say.

We had a robbery unit that had a good clearance rate, he disbanded it and decentralized the detectives, and they had to work everything from murder to shoplifting. So now they couldnt concentrate on the robbery suspects and had rely on patrol entirely. By the time I left, it seemed there were about 6-8 robbery calls a night (per precinct, with 6 precincts), and the detectives would never disseminate any info to us for fear another precinct would get wind of it. Crime down my @ss.

It became a "rule by fear" environment. The commander would yell, (and yes, yell, we could hear it sometimes) at the lieutenant, who would come in roll call in a foul mood, then return the favor to the sgt, and then ultimately the officer would be told to do something about it or they would take his take home car away, or days off, etc. People started to not trust each other, began to turn on each other before I had enough and got out.

So, I said all that to say this. If your department is thinking about going to this, be mindful of the guys at the bottom.