LET’S FIGHT CRIME, STAT!
l Bratt hails new tech tool l Dopey then turns Grumpy
THE NYPD has entered the 21st century with CompStat 2.0 — an interactive and updated version of its long-running crime tally system that’s now accessible to the public.
Police Commissioner Bill Bratton, speaking at a news conference to unveil the new system Tuesday, said the souped-up crimefighting tool bears little resemblance to the original CompStat developed 21 years ago.
“CompStat 2.0 has the ability to take . . . all the information, with few exceptions, that’s shared with our police officers, and now share it with both you, the media, and to the public, more importantly,” he said.
But his mood turned snippy when a reporter asked if Comp- Stat’s reliance on numbers promoted ticket quotas.
“Bulls--t,” Bratton snapped. “Bulls--t is my response to that.”
“If any of my cops out there still think we’re pushing for the summonses . . . we’re pushing to reduce crime,” the peeved top cop said.
He also blasted the media for its heavy coverage of an uptick in slashings and stabbings — even though shootings and murders were down.
“When was the last time any of you reported on that? They’re down dramatically,” he sniffed.
The new technology lets residents map all types of crime — including rapes and murders — down to a specific intersection, with a date and time stamp, too, he said.
“Somebody in their neighborhood (can) go on a computer, to bring up the CompStat information and see what is happening in their neighborhood in literally real time, specifically as it relates to the major crimes in their neighborhoods,” Bratton said.
The rollout of CompStat 2.0 coincided with the final phase of releasing smartphones throughout the NYPD, officials said.
By March, 36,000 custom-designed smartphones will have been distributed, meaning officers across the city can pull up CompStat figures with the push of a button, Bratton said.
The cops will also be equipped with mobile fingerprinting systems.
The enhanced tools will give officers instant access to information that will help them spot “the right people at the right time,” said NYPD Deputy Commissioner Jessica Tisch.
But CompStat 2.0 won’t just improve crimefighting, according to Mayor de Blasio. It will also improve communication, both within the NYPD and between cops and the communities they serve, he said.
“We want community members to get to know the police. We want community members to feel free to call the police officer they know with tips, with ideas on where there might be problems so we can stop crime, in many cases, before it happens,” the mayor said.
“This is going to facilitate that as well,” he said.
By the end of this year, a stateof-the-art 911 call center will open in the Bronx. Dispatchers will be able to map the location of all police cars.
“This is the single largest transformation of police communications in 50 years,” Bratton said, brandishing one of the NYPD’s custom-made smartphones.
The department credited the use of smartphones with a series of arrests since early December. In a Jan. 28 incident, officers got an alert on department-issued smartphones about a cell phone theft at the Q line Neck Road-E. 16th St. subway station in Brooklyn.
At the scene, they identified an individual who fit the description of the thief. After a positive ID from the victim, the suspect was arrested and a loaded .357 Smith & Wesson gun was found on him. The suspect was in custody before the crime was even reported over NYPD radios.
The original CompStat was created by the late Deputy Com- missioner Jack Maple during Bratton’s first stint as commissioner in 1994. The data-driven approach has been credited as one of the factors in the sharp decline in the city’s crime rate over the past two decades.
Bulls--t! Bulls--t is my response to that. If any of my cops out there still think we’re pushing for the summonses... we’re pushing to reduce crime.