CompStat
Definition
A police management and accountability system first implemented by the New York City Police Department in 1994. CompStat uses regularly updated crime maps to hold precinct commanders accountable for crime trends in their areas and to direct resources to emerging hotspots. It became a model for data-driven policing in many countries.
- Origin
- NYPD, 1994
- Core tool
- Regularly updated crime maps
- Purpose
- Precinct commander accountability, resource direction
- Legacy
- Model for data-driven policing internationally
Common questions
What criticism is most commonly raised against CompStat-style accountability systems?+
The pressure to show falling crime numbers has been linked in several jurisdictions to downgrading of offence classifications and discouraging complainants from filing reports, which distorts the recorded crime statistics the system itself relies on. This feeds directly into concerns about the dark figure of crime, since CompStat data undercounts what it is meant to measure when this pressure exists.
How does CompStat differ from ordinary crime mapping used by a records unit?+
Crime mapping alone is a descriptive tool, CompStat adds a formal management process built around it: regular accountability meetings where commanders are questioned on trends in their area and expected to explain response strategy. The mapping is the input, the accountability meeting is what made CompStat distinctive.
Related terms
- Crime Hotspot
- A small geographic area where crime incidents cluster at a rate significantly higher than surrounding areas over a defined time period. Hotspot...
- Dark Figure of Crime
- The gap between the actual volume of crime and the amount recorded in official statistics. Crimes go unrecorded when victims do not...
- Geographic Information System (GIS)
- Software that stores, analyses, and visualises data tied to geographic coordinates. In crime analysis, GIS platforms such as ArcGIS or the open-source...
- Recording Rate
- The proportion of crimes known to police that are formally entered into official statistics. Recording rates below 100% produce a secondary dark...
- Victimisation Survey
- A survey that asks a random population sample about crimes experienced in a reference period, regardless of whether those incidents were reported...