Public Safety is a Mayor’s primary responsibility. How Mayors manage that responsibility is vital to how police and fire departments utilize resources to serve and protect the population.
Taxpayers have invested a great deal of money to upgrade Police Dept systems and technology, from data collection management and body cameras to 911 system upgrades and license plate readers. As a council person, I have voted for these initiatives and am a proponent of utilizing technology in managing city services. However, we must do more than buy and install the equipment to achieve success.
Our data collection is not clearly audited for accuracy and our reporting is confusing and opaque. A former PPD officer once told me that they did not really use the weekly Comstat reports generated by the department because they didn’t have much trust in the accuracy of the data or the resulting output. This is not necessarily meant to imply any nefarious activity, but to say that data collection and reporting need to be managed properly, audited regularly and shared with the public consistently.
Crime data should be publicly available (i.e. every two weeks or monthly) in an open-source format that allows the public to independently study and analyze the information. Spoon feeding data with high level percentages such as “Violent Crime is down over 50%” or “non-violent crime is down over 65%” is unclear and creates further mistrust and cynicism towards government.
- 50% and 65% decrease from what year?
- What is a violent crime vs a non-violent?
- Where are the heaviest areas for spikes in crime?
- Is there a reason for a particular spike in one crime or other?
- How does this period compare to the same period last year?
Additionally, if a particular crime goes up from 2019 to 2020, and an elected official says, “well its way better than it was in 2009 or 2016”, then we have another problem. Crime affects us most dramatically in the present so telling people that a 45% increase in assaults in 2020 (there was), or a more than doubling of homicides (there was) or a doubling in Rapes (there was) is not that bad because it was even higher 5 or 8 years ago, does not do anything to address residents’ concerns right now.
Keeping the data a secret and having it reported the following calendar year is an archaic approach and treats citizens (who pay the bills by the way) like children who are unable to handle information.
My focus on honest communication and transparency is not limited to Council Meetings and the more mundane processes of city government – they should be part of the entire city government, including PPD, so that our residents are informed on the issues that effect themselves and their community.
Track it, report it, share it – when we are all on the same page, we are better equipped to solve problems.
#PlainfieldNotPolitics
McKenna4Mayor 