ABSTRACT
Our research —rst attracted media attention on Sunday, February 7, 2010 with a New York Times front-page article entitled “Retired O¦cers Raise Questions on Crime Data.” ‰e story highlighted Compstat’s unyielding demand for crime reduction and its bearing on unethical crime reporting. ‰e article triggered a rapid and furious response from the NYPD, its political allies (including two of New York’s major newspapers, the Daily News and the Post), and its academic supporters. Unfortunately, the leadership of the Police Department and its allies willfully refused to take seriously what the department’s own retired commanders said, and launched a public relations o¥ensive based on many false claims: that we are opposed to Compstat, that the retired police we surveyed from the rank of captain and higher were tools of their union, and that the use of an anonymous survey is tainted.
