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I thought Durham cut off crime data months ago. I have been using Spotcrime for a while now and remember getting an email from them months ago informing the public that this would be happening and they urged everyone to contact a local official in Durham. I don't think I have that email, but if I find it, I will update.
"RAIDS Online owner Sean Bair admits that while still accessible, the crime data is no longer as open as it was on CrimeMapper. But he says that's a good thing for citizens. He said his company cleans up the often messy department data to paint a more accurate picture of crime in the city.
"It's important that people understand the nuances of the data, and the best way to do that is to present it to them in the best way it can be presented," Bair said.
Gotta love the idea of them "cleaning up" messy Durham crime data for us. All nice and spik-n-span and clean enough for consumption, optimized for feeling good and better promotion of the city.
In other words, "Durham's crime data should not be presented next to every other city's data for equal comparison, we want to have control over presenting it in the light we would prefer to."
Remember the old saying about liars and statistics. This is how a city with something to hide behaves. If you can't clean up the crime, why not just pay someone to clean up the crime data. So what if citizens are a little less safe as a result of less information? All's fair in politics.
If they didn't have a sleazy agenda they would continue to allow existing options and given citizens the same choice they have in other cities, providing the new option that has their doctored-up crime data for citizens who are gullible enough to accept it.
"RAIDS Online owner Sean Bair admits that while still accessible, the crime data is no longer as open as it was on CrimeMapper. But he says that's a good thing for citizens. He said his company cleans up the often messy department data to paint a more accurate picture of crime in the city.
"It's important that people understand the nuances of the data, and the best way to do that is to present it to them in the best way it can be presented," Bair said.
Gotta love the idea of them "cleaning up" messy Durham crime data for us. All nice and spik-n-span and clean enough for consumption, optimized for feeling good and better promotion of the city.
In other words, "Durham's crime data should not be presented next to every other city's data for equal comparison, we want to have control over presenting it in the light we would prefer to."
Remember the old saying about liars and statistics. This is how a city with something to hide behaves. If you can't clean up the crime, why not just pay someone to clean up the crime data. So what if citizens are a little less safe as a result of less information? All's fair in politics.
If they didn't have a sleazy agenda they would continue to allow existing options and given citizens the same choice they have in other cities, providing the new option that has their doctored-up crime data for citizens who are gullible enough to accept it.
Or, it could be that they recognized that Spotcrime painted an inaccurate picture. I stopped using it altogether for looking at crime in Durham because I found that the same incident often showed up multiple times on the map, making it seem like there was way more crime than actually recorded by the police. They seemed to do almost no data cleaning before presenting the information, and clean data is important - it does not necessarily mean "sanitized", as you suggest.
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Originally Posted by lb27608
Or, it could be that they recognized that Spotcrime painted an inaccurate picture. I stopped using it altogether for looking at crime in Durham because I found that the same incident often showed up multiple times on the map, making it seem like there was way more crime than actually recorded by the police. They seemed to do almost no data cleaning before presenting the information, and clean data is important - it does not necessarily mean "sanitized", as you suggest.
Your not going to change the mindset of someone like that. Of course they are doing it as part of a conspiracy. The same people are the ones who look up the legal history of all their neighbors, assume stranger danger mode in all interactions and think other drivers are purposefully cutting them off the road. Common sense and realistic caution never enter the equation. It's way more interesting to these people to show more colored dots on a map to justify their fears then to actually worry about repetitive reporting and the like.
Your not going to change the mindset of someone like that. Of course they are doing it as part of a conspiracy. The same people are the ones who look up the legal history of all their neighbors, assume stranger danger mode in all interactions and think other drivers are purposefully cutting them off the road. Common sense and realistic caution never enter the equation. It's way more interesting to these people to show more colored dots on a map to justify their fears then to actually worry about repetitive reporting and the like.
A complete load.
Whenever there is a spike in crime in a given community, the local police and anyone else who has ever made a career out of crime prevention always say the same thing: Increase your awareness of what's going on in your neighborhood, pay attention when you see someone you aren't familiar with or something out of the ordinary, take notes and photos, start neighborhood watches, over communicate, etc.
They make this type of recommendation because it helps reduce crime. You'll always have a certain number of knuckleheads who are self appointed experts that think they know better than crime prevention professionals, who are not going to be even capable of elevating their intelligence on the subject until they or someone they care about gets broken into, stabbed in the neck or whatever, then their viewpoint on the matter starts to shift toward a more knowledgeable viewpoint.
More awareness of neighborhood crime is better overall. It's really not something that can be debated in a way that anyone would take opponents of heightened awareness or similar clown theories seriously.
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. The same people are the ones who look up the legal history of all their neighbors, assume stranger danger mode in all interactions and think other drivers are purposefully cutting them off the road. Common sense and realistic caution never enter the equation. It's way more interesting to these people to show more colored dots on a map to justify their fears then to actually worry about repetitive reporting and the like.
