Crime wave in Greenwood DE (Milton: felony, houses, statistics)

[jvpcity]

The most recent crime data for Greenwood DE on City-Data.com (2007) shows that assaults have doubled and burglaries have TRIPLED. The Greenwood police department has very limited resources, as would be expected for a town of only 900 adults. Yet at least one officer is assigned to operate Greenwood's famous speed trap along Rt. 13. If I were a resident of the town, I would be alarmed at that.

[Charley]

Originally Posted by jvpcity

The most recent crime data for Greenwood DE on City-Data.com (2007) shows that assaults have doubled and burglaries have TRIPLED. The Greenwood police department has very limited resources, as would be expected for a town of only 900 adults. Yet at least one officer is assigned to operate Greenwood's famous speed trap along Rt. 13. If I were a resident of the town, I would be alarmed at that.

Yes, they doubled. But be careful in using statistics. The data is PER 100,000 RESIDENTS. Do the math with a population of 900 and you realize that assaults doubled all right ... from ONE to TWO! Burglaries tripled, from TWO to SIX! That's a crime wave?

US Crime Index, per 100,000 = 320.9
Greenwood DE - in 2005 = 191.1
Greenwood DE - in 2006 = 190.4
Greenwood DE - in 2007 = 153.8

NEXT??

[cool rob]

Originally Posted by Charley

Yes, they doubled. But be careful in using statistics. The data is PER 100,000 RESIDENTS. Do the math with a population of 900 and you realize that assaults doubled all right ... from ONE to TWO! Burglaries tripled, from TWO to SIX! That's a crime wave?

US Crime Index, per 100,000 = 320.9
Greenwood DE - in 2005 = 191.1
Greenwood DE - in 2006 = 190.4
Greenwood DE - in 2007 = 153.8

NEXT??

I would say yes, if the burglaries were all on the same type of residence/business and if the assaults were targeted towards a similar victim, for a town of 900 with 6 houses on the same street burglarized, that could be pretty alarming

[Charley]

UH-OH! Those six incidents? Well, I did a little research and they are actually six COUNTS.

Here's the story: On November 16, 2007, Milton Police arrested Accused Anthony W. Cubbage, 41 of Philadelphia, PA for three counts of Burglary Third Degree, one count Felony Theft (where the victim is 62 years of age or older), and two counts of Theft under $1,000.

So this was a one day, one man crime wave.

Now I'm really scared. What happens if he ever comes back to town??

[little eggplant]

Charley, you are TOO much! Thank you for keeping a cool head while dissecting these figures. As my dear Father used to say, "You can always find a statistic to back up anything."

[Charley]

Originally Posted by little eggplant

Charley, you are TOO much! Thank you for keeping a cool head while dissecting these figures. As my dear Father used to say, "You can always find a statistic to back up anything."

I had to take a number of statistics courses for my masters and one book that was always recommended was Darryl Huff's "How to Lie with Statistics", written I believe in 1936. His basic premise was that there are three kinds of lies ... there are lies, damn lies and statistics. It's written very tongue-in-cheek, but it's really very true.

[Joe84323]

I'm pretty sure we're all gonna die.