Detroit police routinely underreport homicides - Actual '08 total gives city worst rate in nation

Source: Detroit News

Thursday, June 18, 2009
Detroit police routinely underreport homicides
Actual '08 total gives city worst rate in nation
Charlie LeDuff and Santiago Esparza / The Detroit News


Detroit -- The Detroit Police Department is systematically undercounting homicides, leading to a falsely low murder rate in a city that regularly ranks among the nation's deadliest, a Detroit News review of police and medical examiner records shows.

The police incorrectly reclassified 22 of its 368 slayings last year as "justifiable" and did not report them as homicides to the FBI as required by federal guidelines. There were at least 59 such omissions over the past five years, according to incomplete records obtained from the police department through the Freedom of Information Act.

A thorough look at the 2008 homicide statistics reveals other omissions:
• In one case, the police reclassified a homicide as a suicide.
• Two men were stabbed to death, but were not included due to "insufficient evidence."
• A man who was beaten to death, according to the medical examiner, died by accident, according to the police.
• A baby beaten to death never made the homicide tally, nor did a man who was found shot in the head.

What is more, records show Detroit police officers killed 10 civilians last year, a five-fold increase from 2007. That makes the Detroit department one of the most deadly in America even as it operates under federal supervision, for among other things, the use of lethal force and the illegal detention of witnesses.

Read more: http://www.detnews.com/article/20090618/METRO/906180406/Detroit-police-routinely-underreport-homicides

have a chance to find work.

..................largest cities are becoming just that. The police basically "rope off" certain sections of the city and let the prostitution and dope dealing have at it, along with the violence that follows these pursuits. It hasn't got any better since the riots of the 60's, matter of fact it probably is worse now. AND, the biggest thing in this is not a god damn thing is being done to try to improve it. It ain't just Detroit, look at Gary In, Memphis Tn, Newark NJ and on and on................. America, what a country!!!!!!

This has probably been going on since the 1900's. There has always been a "bad part of town" in every city. It's bad because nobody can, or will, pay the price to make it "not bad."

The best example is probably Prohibition-era Chicago. Despite Elliot Ness and his "Untouchables," most of the common beat cops were on the take from the gangsters. Why not? Their bribes were often more htan their city salaries.

There isn't that much money with today's vice, outside of drugs. But for things like prostitution, there are always "freebies" or blackmail of cops who dared to sample the forbidden fruit. Plus the base difficulty of trying to stop violent criminals. As long as they contain their violence within their own communities it doesn't matter. (To pull race into the discussion, how many white people care if black or Hispanic people kill each other? Be honest with yourselves.)

So why the shock and outrage about this business? It's the way of life. Just accept it. Stay away from New York and Los Angeles, and the nasty areas of your own town, and you'll live a happy and productive life. And if you live in either of those two hellholes, or the bad parts of your town, do everything within your power to get the hell out.

:evilgrin:

South Beach used to be a crime-ridden neighborhood back in the 1980's. Now it is a vibrant place where people actually want to spend their vacation time.

I hate to promote gentrification. Look at Seattle and San Francisco. Not much color in those places.

http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/ACSSAFFFacts?_event=ChangeGeoContext&geo_id=16000US0667000&_geoContext=01000US|04000US06|16000US0665028&_street=&_county=san+francisco&_cityTown=san+francisco&_state=04000US06&_zip=&_lang=en&_sse=on&ActiveGeoDiv=geoSelect&_useEV=&pctxt=fph&pgsl=010&_submenuId=factsheet_1&ds_name=ACS_2007_3YR_SAFF&_ci_nbr=null&qr_name=null®=null%3Anull&_keyword=&_industry=

The Asian contingent is quite large there too, but walking through the city, it seems lily white.

You force other segments of the population elsewhere due to rising property values. Heck, I'm hoping for the same thing for my property, but hate that it has to be this way.

.........always "those" kind of places. Today you have 30 or more square miles in the larger cities of "bad part of town" places. You know that you can make it better, don't you? Your statement seems to say "fuck it" it has always been that way. Look, the story was about Detroit and Detroit was never that bad in 1900, no, it has progressively gotten worse (usually under Republican majorities). Poverty rates actually were going down during the late 60's after LBJ's war on poverty legislation. The problem today is massive greed in society where nobody gives a fuck.

The problem with Detroit is the decimation of the American auto industry and much of the blame can be layed at the same people who will never buy an American car regardless of the quality.

I suppose the next thing you will say is the old tried and true conservative quote of "they choose to live that way". If you want to attribute just "one" thing to the problem, why not racism, that would be a hell of a lot more accurate than the "American auto industry".

NYC 40 years ago. I can't say much about Memphis, but I believe Gary is also suffering from being close the rust-belt. Its really a simple equation: No jobs = dangerous city.

Also some places are just a nightmare for some reason. I used to travel to trade shows in Detroit in the 90's and we used to joke how it resembled Tim Burton's Gotham City in Batman. How many times did they elect Kwame?

NYC 40 years ago. I can't say much about Memphis, but I believe Gary is also suffering from being close the rust-belt. Its really a simple equation: No jobs = dangerous city.

Also some places are just a nightmare for some reason. I used to travel to trade shows in Detroit in the 90's and we used to joke how it resembled Tim Burton's Gotham City in Batman. How many times did they elect Kwame?

Only place I'd go at night would be Germantown. Even Beale street is too dangerous. Of course Nashville and Jackson, MS are just as bad.

When the steel industry went bust, it had little to fall back on.

Memphis tried to grow as a distribution center, and for a while it might have thrived as such. But the land-based distribution industry has been having difficulties, and the local airport has lost some of its hub business. Who knows about the river traffic.

Mostly because the domestic car industry churned out crap for decades.

If you burn someone on a purchase as big as a car (the second largest most people will ever make after a home) then they will not come back and purchase from you again.

There are a lot of us out here who were badly burned by domestic cars, don't blame the victim, blame the perpetrator, management who deliberately cut quality and built in "planned obsolescence" in order to boost short term profits.

Really? The offerings from Honda and Toyota from the 70's to the early 80's were garbage. They eventually truned it around, but it seems like people are much more forgiving of Japanese products then any product touched by union hands.

A 72 Corolla that was a great little car, never had a problem with it

A 78 Toyota Pickup that was also a great vehicle, well nigh indestructible.

The 78 Monza on the other hand, the interior plastic all turned to powder and flaked away and the front end literally could not be brought into alignment due to insufficient adjustment allowed.

you've got to take into account the various energy crises and the fallout therefrom. In the early '70s, when the first gas crisis hit, Detroit was cranking out mostly gas guzzlers, while the Japanese had been building relatively fuel-efficient cars for decades. So Japan was able to step in and carve out a niche for itself in the US domestic market. And while some of those early imports were no doubt junk from an American perspective (since Japanese domestic cars at the time were being built for a relatively short lifespan of 60-70,000 miles and mostly for short-trip drivers), the Japanese were able to learn more about American driver habits and use their US profits to develop cars that were more tailored for the US market.

and the rates are down significantly compared to last year.

I admit that this is a beautiful idea. An old issue of Spy Magazine said things improved in Los Angeles when cops were allowed to leave their cars and patrol the communities on foot, introducing themselves to the stores and residents and establishing a human bond with them.

The place where it all falls down is "flooding with cops." Cities don't have the tax dollars or the will to increase the ranks of their police. Here in Florida they have chosen controversial methods to "catch criminals" that haven't reduced crime - like stopping Hispanic or black people driving up from Miami, and checking their cars for surprising amounts of cash or any trace of drugs. This gets headlines, makes colorful arrests, and it does no good whatsoever for communities.

Here in Orlando our mayor would rather build a huge basketball arena for Magic owner Rick DuVos, who is the billionaire owner of Amway, than increase the number of patrolmen on the streets.

So, it would be really nice to "flood with cops" the nasty parts of our cities, but who wants to, when they can build pretty buildings?

you said:
"Stay away from New York and Los Angeles, and the nasty areas of your own town, and you'll live a happy and productive life. And if you live in either of those two hellholes, or the bad parts of your town, do everything within your power to get the hell out."

Having lived in LA for 17 years, I'd say most of it is wonderful, though the cost of living is high.

and most of New York is likewise. Same high cost issue.

And, I was born in Detroit, which has unique issues unlike either NY or LA. Since it doesn't fit your broadbrush ... I will not bother discussing them with you.

statistically speaking. that's true.

in the early 90s?

Unfortunately the case came too soon after Rodney King and the officers had no chance at a fair trial.

DETROIT -- They call this the Motor City, but you have to leave town to buy a Chrysler or a Jeep.

Borders Inc. was founded 40 miles away, but the only one of the chain's bookstores here closed this month. And Starbucks Corp., famous for saturating U.S. cities with its storefronts, has only four left in this city of 900,000 after closures last summer.

There was a time early in the decade when downtown Detroit was sprouting new cafes and shops, and residents began to nurture hopes of a rebound. But lately, they are finding it increasingly tough to buy groceries or get a cup of fresh-roast coffee as the 11th largest U.S. city struggles with the recession and the auto-industry crisis.

No national grocery chain operates a store here. A lack of outlets that sell fresh produce and meat has led the United Food and Commercial Workers union and a community group to think about building a grocery store of its own.

One of the few remaining bookstores is the massive used-book outlet John K. King has operated out of an abandoned glove factory since 1983. But Mr. King is considering moving his operations to the suburbs.

http://finance.yahoo.com/family-home/article/107206/retailers-head-for-exits-in-detroit.html?mod=family-autos


of course behind closed doors, the WSJ gets all creamy at the thought of a dead Detroit...now they will focus on helping to finally kill off the airline unions and that will be the end...

I got dispatched to Detroit to pick up a load of paper plates and haul them to Georgia. They don't make paper plates in the nice part of Detroit.

Well, when I got there the shipping manager came out to meet me. "We have to bring part of your load in from another warehouse, so just park over there and we'll load you as soon as it arrives." Fair enough.

About half an hour later, he comes out again..."We have to bring in TWO parts of your load. Don't worry, the warehouse isn't that far away." What are you gonna do?

Eventually the product DID arrive at the warehouse I was at, and I docked. I was supposed to hit the dock at 7am and be gone by 8. It's now 10:30. At 11:15 I went in to see how it was going. I'm about two-thirds loaded.

"You look worried." (I ALWAYS look worried. Even when I'm not.)

'No, I just want to get on the road, man...'

"Don't worry. We only have twelve murders a year in this neighborhood." This is NOT what you want to hear.

He finally got me loaded and handed me the loading documents. I had to take them across the street to their office to get my bill of lading. While I was there I asked the office manager about this twelve murders a year thing. "Carlos told you that?" Yes, it was Carlos. "That bastard. He knows it's only three."

aren't given any public scrutiny. Here in Houston, there have been various murders with unusual back stories that never seem to warrant followups later on. Individuals run over on the sidewalk in broad daylight. Political figure shot and killed in his house, with arson to cover the crime. ETc., etc. Of course one wonders what ever happened. But more importantly, it's another sign of the lack of responsiveness or focus by government to ordinary human concerns as opposed to strictly business. Don't the people of a town deserve to know if their police are successful at solving murder cases?

If it were possible for corporations to be the victims of 'murder', you can be sure that the cases would be well-tracked and every effort would be made to solve and prevent them. Instead, resources are devoted to finding (and fining) teenagers who download music or smoke a little funny cigarette.