CompStat is still used in many, if not most, police departments, and it’s been widely praised by police executives. (It’s also been associated with stats-juking scandals.) Some research also suggests that certain police tactics do decrease crime.
What's new with CompStat?
The New York City Police Department has taken the unprecedented step of making much of the crime data developed in the CompStat model available to the public. This advancement, called CompStat 2.0, provides greater specificity about crimes through an online interactive experience.
Where did CompStat come from?
It was originally set up by the New York City Police Department in the 1990s. Variations of the program have since been used in police departments across the world. CompStat was started under the direction of Jack Maple when he was a transit police officer in New York City.
Does the NYPD still use CompStat?
Fast forward to modern day, the same commissioner is still head of the NYPD and still uses CompStat. According to NYPD statistics, crime is down by 75% from 1994 (Dienst et al., 2016).
Does CompStat impact police performance and accountability?
This report from the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF) examines the impact of Compstat on police performance and accountability. Compstat is a "performance management system that is used to reduce crime and achieve other police department goals."
Who uses CompStat?
Compstat, in law enforcement, stands for 'Computer Statistics' dealing specifically with crime. It was developed in the 1990s at the New York Police Department to help reduce crime. It was found to be an effective way to accurately track crime and use the information to deploy officers to address it in timely manner.
How effective is CompStat?
The NYPD says CompStat was the driving force in reducing crime by 75% in about 20 years. Unfortunately, as with many new toys, those who used it found a way to break it. Instead of police departments developing it into a tool that could better control crime, they weaponized it.
Can CompStat be used to combat terrorism?
Fortunately, the tools the NYPD developed to fight street crime — above all, the intelligence and accountability mechanism known as Compstat — are tailor-made for combating terrorism.
What does CompStat rely on?
What does Compstat depend on? Effective crime analysis. Analysts should provide insight on crime patterns-not simply report numbers.
What are the four principles of CompStat?
Compstat emphasizes information-sharing, responsibility and account- ability, and improving effectiveness. It includes four generally recognized core components: (1) Timely and accurate information or intelligence; (2) Rapid deployment of resources; (3) Effective tactics; and (4) Relentless follow-up.
What are the four principles of CompStat policing?
Those principles (timely and accurate intelligence; effective tactics; rapid deployment of personnel and resources; and relentless follow-up and assessment to ensure that the problem has been solved) have been discussed at length in the first part of this paper.
What does stat mean in police terms?
Answer. Stat, used as a directive to medical personnel during in an emergency situation, is from the Latin word statim, which means “instantly” or “immediately.”
What is CompStat process?
The CompStat process can be summarized in one simple statement: “Collect, analyze, and map crime data and other essential police performance measures on a regular basis, and hold police managers accountable for their performance as measured by these data.”2 This statement reflects the paradigm of modern policing: ...
Where is predictive policing used?
Broadly speaking, there are two applications of predictive policing. First, the use of arrest data to predict geographical crime hotspots. Second, mined social media data that can be used to determine how likely it is that someone might commit a crime.
What is Baltimore comstat?
December 2018) CompStat—or COMPSTAT (short for COMPuter STATistics, which was the computer file name of the original program)—is a computerization and quantification program used by police departments. It was originally set up by the New York City Police Department in the 1990s.
What is CompStat and why are police departments using it quizlet?
What is Compstat? A performance management system that is used to reduce crime and achieve other police department goals. Includes prevention not just response.
Which of the following crime reduction principles forms the basis of CompStat?
Walsh (2001) identified four principles that form the basis of the Compstat programme: (1) accurate and timely information about crime; (2) rapid and focused deployment of personnel; (3) effective managerial tac- tics; and (4) relentless follow-up and assessment.
What is Compstat used for?
Compstat is a "performance management system that is used to reduce crime and achieve other police department goals." The system has four core components and emphasizes information-sharing, responsibility and accountability, and improving effectiveness. The components are: 1) timely and accurate information or intelligence; 2) rapid deployment of resources; 3) effective tactics; and 4) relentless follow-up. The report has three major sections. The first section details what Compstat is and how it was developed and adopted, first by the New York City Police Department and subsequently by other law enforcement and non-law enforcement agencies. The second section of the report discusses what is known about Compstat in today's criminal justice system. The third section of the report discusses the future of Compstat and presents the views of agency officials on their plans for the use of Compstat. References and appendixes
What is the second section of Compstat?
The second section of the report discusses what is known about Compstat in today's criminal justice system.
What is Compstat used for?
While Compstat was developed to meet the needs of the NYPD in 1994, the experiences of other agencies since then demonstrate that Compstat can be adapted for use in any law enforcement agency. There is no one-size-fits-all model of Compstat. According to Bill Bratton, “An inher-ent strength of Compstat and performance man-agement systems is that they can be modified to direct and control significantly different environ-ments. Compstat may be affected by cultural and organizational differences, budget constraints, and agency bureaucracies.” 39 Bratton said that the Compstat system he used at LAPD reflected that agency’s culture and was “more laid back and per-sonable [than at NYPD], but the four principles still applied.”40 He compared the differences in
When was Compstat invented?
Since Compstat was invented by the New York Police Department in 1994, it has evolved as it has been adopted by agencies of every size across the country. Given Compstat’s success, it can be ex-pected to remain a critical part of policing in the future.
What is the future of Compstat?
The future of Compstat is expanding it . We ex-panded it to the idea of trac accidents and cre-ated “TracStat.” Today, departments might find it useful to apply Compstat to counterterrorism operations. Once a problem is identified, the four principles of Compstat can be applied. What it does is release the power of an organization’s mid-dle managers. They are closest to the action, clos-est to the problems, and closest to the community, and it’s in their self-interest to serve the commu-nity and do it well. Commanders understand that accountability means rewards for doing well and punishment for cheating or doing poorly. Many departments who say they are doing Compstat are not really doing it. In some places Compstat is just a numbers game; it’s not about strategies and tactics. The focus is only on whether crime is up or down. But Compstat is supposed to be a problem-solving process.
What is Compstat in policing?
Compstat is the most important administrative policing development of the past 100 years. Comp-stat appropriately focuses on crime, but I think the danger is that Compstat doesn’t always balance that focus with the other values that policing is supposed to pursue, including justice and mini-mizing use of force. I want Compstat to measure and discuss things like complaints against ocers and whether police are reducing fear of crime in the community. If you only focus on crime, you can develop a distorted view of whether the De-partment is succeeding. The Compstat systems of the future must reflect all of the values the police should be pursuing.
What does Chief Holloway do for Compstat?
Chief Holloway credits Compstat with giving his commanders a venue to discuss the resources they need, and also to focus on issues that cross district lines. Deployment and resource management are coordinated in tandem with neighboring district commanders.
Why is it important to share information between Compstat participants?
However, information is often held closely by individual of-ficers and investigators, and this is one reason why many who participate in Compstat for the first time find it uncomfortable—Compstat requires them to share information for the good of the agency.
Is Compstat a good tool?
Compstat will continue to be a good vehicle for focusing on management issues and to examine particular problems. In the future, Compstat may be more flexible and open. More junior people will be involved in the process. More investigative information could be included, as will overtime, civilian complaints, and other administrative information.
What is a compstat?
It should also be noted that compstat is a geographically linked management system in which captains or commanders are assigned precincts or districts which they are accountable for. Specific objectives are an early step in any strategy and are not unique to compstat. Strategies must be based upon objectives and objectives must be based ...
What is the objective of Compstat?
As compstat focuses on the community protection mission to which veritably all police agencies ascribe, the objectives set forth must be the reduction of crimes, specifically the reduction of particularly problematic crimes in the community.
What is compstat in police?
Compstat is an evolutionary outgrowth of police management systems and strategies that came before it, as such we must first understand the historical legacy of police management systems in order to understand the deficiencies in prior models which compstat seeks to address.
What did Bratton reject?
Bratton rejected notions that the police were incapable of deterring or preventing crime; as such, rapid results in crime reduction is a focal point in the compstat system (McDonald, 2002).
What is the third element of compstat?
The third element of compstat, effective strategies and tactics, centers around the idea of utilizing all potential sources of prevention at the police agency’s disposal, including patrol, specialized units, and other public agencies.
Who issued the first set of written codes for his subjects?
Since the dawn of civilization crime has been a constant concern for societies. Crime led Hamurabi to issue the first set of written codes for his subjects; however, he was far from the last to issue codes and laws for a populace (Samaha, 2008).
Is compstat good for crime?
While wholesale adoption of compstat may not be ideal in every agency, it contains principles which can achieve immediate short term crime reduction which so long as activity levels of precincts are sustained, crime patterns can be regularly disrupted to the point of reducing overall crime.
