Trotting out crime stats is always a leap of faith. One bad day or week and there goes the good news. The key is to temper the crime stat enthusiasm when an uptick occurs, something former Mayor Bill Finch had difficulty doing last summer. And his chief Democratic primary opponent Ganim was all over it.
News release from the mayor:
Mayor Joe Ganim and Bridgeport Police Chief AJ Perez today released statistics from the Bridgeport Police Department through the first six months of 2016 showing dramatic reductions in homicide and shootings compared to last year. So far in 2016 Bridgeport has seen only four homicides, a 50% reduction from the homicide figure through the first six months of 2015. Specifically, only two homicides in Bridgeport thus far this year have resulted from gunfire, a 75% decline in the shooting homicide figure from the same time period in 2015. Overall, Bridgeport has seen a 25% reduction in shooting incidents (45 shootings as compared to 60) in the first half of this year as compared to January through June of 2015.
“These numbers show remarkable progress made by the Bridgeport Police Department in taking preventative steps to reduce gun violence,” said Mayor Ganim. “Chief AJ Perez and the entire police force have been very proactively pursuing a strategy to get illegal guns that could be used to harm Bridgeport residents off our streets. Even one homicide is too many, but we can see that our new policing strategy is already yielding results. We are also committed to growing the size of the police force so we can keep this positive trend going.”
Bridgeport Police Chief AJ Perez said, “We are making our community safer by cracking down on crime havens and keeping the pressure on illegal drug and gun dealers, and this is only the beginning. We have strong partnerships in all of these efforts with state and federal law enforcement agencies. Our most valuable resource, however, is the support we receive every day from the people of Bridgeport who trust our officers enough to provide key information that helps us investigate, solve and prevent crime every day. This partnership will be critical to continuing to improve public safety in our city.”
Bridgeport City Councilwoman Jeanette Herron from the 133rd District said, “Due to the new administration and the wonderful chief, our police officers are working harder than ever to keep crime down in our city. I am proud of their work and my constituents have really noticed the improvement!”
Let’s hope the Mayor is jumping the gun on this one.
Fools can figure and figures can fool. Statistically speaking is a form of truth. But for honest and truthful reasons, one needs to observe well-defined statistical trends over periods of time.
When one begins to do that, the trends begin to reveal the narrative. In Bridgeport, the opposite process is offered. First, we’ll tell a story that serves our purpose, and THEN we will find statistics to back up our story. Okay? Like it? How is it working out? (How many dollars have been overcommitted for years now without serious analysis and public explanation on “public safety” that employs fewer than 1,000 people while in those same years dollars continue to be undercommitted for public education of 22,000 youth?) Time will tell.