Baltimore City Council
File #: 06-0148R    Version: 0 Name: The Ad Hoc Committee for Collegiate Nonpartisan Audit of Baltimore City Crime Statistics
Type: City Council Resolution Status: Withdrawn
File created: 2/27/2006 In control: City Council
On agenda: Final action: 11/20/2006
Enactment #:
Title: The Ad Hoc Committee for Collegiate Nonpartisan Audit of Baltimore City Crime Statistics FOR the purpose of calling upon the Presidents of Coppin State College, The Johns Hopkins University, Morgan State University, and the University of Maryland to assist the citizens of Baltimore by forming an ad hoc committee to perform an independent audit of Baltimore Police Department procedures for the collection of crime statistics to determine the accuracy and timeliness of the data reported, to evaluate the effectiveness of the use of statistical data in identifying areas of concentrated criminal activity, and to appraise the ability of departmental personnel to translate the statistical findings into innovative and competent policies that have a real effect in lowering the incidents of criminal activity citywide.
Sponsors: Kenneth Harris, Keiffer Mitchell, Helen L. Holton, President Young, Robert Curran, Agnes Welch, Mary Pat Clarke
Indexes: Crime Statistics, Resolution
Attachments: 1. 06-0148R - 1st Reader.pdf

* WARNING: THIS IS AN UNOFFICIAL, INTRODUCTORY COPY OF THE BILL.

THE OFFICIAL COPY CONSIDERED BY THE CITY COUNCIL IS THE FIRST READER COPY.

                     INTRODUCTORY*

 

                     CITY OF BALTIMORE

                     COUNCIL BILL           R

                     (Resolution)

                                                                                                                                                           

Introduced by: Councilmembers Harris, Mitchell, Holton, Young, Curran                                      

 

                     A RESOLUTION ENTITLED

 

A COUNCIL RESOLUTION concerning

Title

The Ad Hoc Committee for Collegiate Nonpartisan  Audit of Baltimore City Crime Statistics

 

FOR the purpose of calling upon the Presidents of Coppin State College, The Johns Hopkins University, Morgan State University, and the University of Maryland to assist the citizens of Baltimore by forming an ad hoc committee to perform an independent audit of Baltimore Police Department procedures for the collection of crime statistics to determine the accuracy and timeliness of the data reported, to evaluate the effectiveness of the use of statistical data in identifying areas of concentrated criminal activity, and to appraise the ability of departmental personnel to translate the statistical findings into innovative and competent policies that have a real effect in lowering the incidents of criminal activity citywide.

Body

                     Recitals

 

The National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), funded by the United States Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics, has been collecting data on personal and household victimization through an ongoing survey of a nationally-representative sample of residential addresses since 1973.  The NCVS, one of the nation's ongoing household surveys, provides information on how many rapes, sexual assaults, robberies, assaults, thefts, household burglaries, and motor vehicle thefts U.S. residents age 12 or older and their households are experiencing each year.

 

Recently, it was reported that the Governor's Office of Crime Control and Prevention, along with agencies in states and localities across the country, will administer a grant to fund a study that will examine 1 year of police records in 4 subdivisions in Maryland, including Baltimore City, to determine if violent crime statistics are being accurately reported in response to The National Victimization Survey of 2004 that indicated a nationwide inaccurate reporting of certain violent crimes.  According to state officials, the study will help ensure that victims of violent crimes file reports and that local jurisdictions accurately track reports of violent crime.

 

Baltimore City officials' claim of leading the nation with a nearly 40% reduction in violent crime from 1999-2004 has been assailed as an inflated assessment based on an inaccurate calculation of statistics on violent crime -  homicide, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault  - and that a more accurate estimate, based on a comparison of like data, would show a decrease of only  23.5% in violent crime, putting the City in 6th place in crime reduction among America's largest cities.

 

 

 

The public wrangling by elected and appointed officials over who is presenting accurate and statistically sound crime data has led the general public to be wary of any information - whether it indicates Baltimore's crime rate is waxing or waning.  To the residents of Baltimore City, particularly those struggling to survive in crime-ridden areas and those who have been the victim of or have lost loved ones to violent crime, whether the City is in 1st place or 6th place has little real-life significance.

 

 The general public needs to know whether or not their city is a safer place to live, whether or not their children can safely go to school and play in their neighborhoods, and whether or not their investment in the City's future will be protected.  An independent audit of crime statistics by culturally diverse institutions of unimpeachable academic integrity will ensure that Baltimore is accurately reporting the public safety health of our City and, more importantly, signal to our citizens what needs to be done to further ensure the safety of their families and their communities.

 

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF BALTIMORE, That this Body hereby urgently calls upon the Presidents of Coppin State College, The Johns Hopkins University, Morgan State University, and the University of Maryland to assist the citizens of Baltimore by forming an ad hoc committee to perform an independent audit of Baltimore Police Department procedures for the collection of crime statistics to determine the accuracy and timeliness of the data reported, to evaluate the effectiveness of the use of statistical data in identifying areas of concentrated criminal activity, and to appraise the ability of departmental personnel to translate the statistical findings into innovative and competent policies that have a real effect in lowering the incidents of criminal activity citywide.

 

AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution be sent to the Mayor, the Honorable Chairs and Members of the Baltimore City Senate and House Delegations to the 2006 Maryland General Assembly, Presidents of Coppin State College, The Johns Hopkins University, Morgan State University, and the University of Maryland, the Baltimore Police Commissioner, the Executive Director of the Mayor's Office of Government Relations, and the Mayor's Legislative Liaison to the City Council.

 

 

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