CompStat, or better?

As reported in several blogs

January 16, 2008

Mayor Bill White and Police Chief Harold Hurtt rolled out a double-punch P.R. announcement this morning, with a presentation on the "Real-Time Crime Center." It's not open yet, but ill be on Feb. 1 and should be "fully operational" by summer, Hurtt said.

According to Hurtt, it will be "CompStat on steroids." Compstat is shorthand for the much-lauded management philosophy and data-gathering tools used by the New York City police department. Some in Houston have called for HPD to adopt this system too.

Hurtt says that specialized software will link together databases kept by federal, state and county agencies. It will help identify whether local crimes are part of a trend or cluster, even "forecasting" where crimes might occur, so the 60-member "crime reduction" unit can be dispatched quickly to that "hot spot."

The steroids metaphor may have been ill-timed considering the current baseball scandal. That said, however, Hurtt said that HPD visited NYC, Chicago and L.A. and adopted the "best practices" of each of those departments. And all for about $2.9 million, whereas New York's crime center cost $11 million.

Seems almost too good to be true. I've asked the mayor's people for more information. In the meantime, the council people are asking some tough questions of Hurtt:

Anne Clutterbuck of District C wants to know when apartment landlords will be able to track crime statistics at their buildings in real time. The answer is: Soon, but not yet.

Melissa Noriega asked if the system will do the same things as CompStat. Hurtt said yes, if you couple the software with the accountability due to captains and the regular meeting (every two weeks) during which captains must report on progress in their geographic areas.

Jolanda Jones asked for much more detail and a briefing: What does cooperation really mean, with the sheriff's office and other agencies? How does HPD determine how many officers to assign to a neighborhood? And what does "CompStat on steroids" really mean?

I'd like to know too. -- Carolyn Feibel

Posted by Carolyn Feibel

Hurtt responds to Chron op-ed

Last weekend, the Chronicle ran a letter from Chief Hurtt responding to the most recent op-ed from Alan Helfman, Jay Wall and William A. Wolff. In the letter, Chief Hurtt takes exception with their notion that crime statistical analysis should be a much higher priority within HPD, then goes on to argue that crime statistic analysis already IS a high priority within HPD.

We've reproduced the letter below the [Read More] link, as the Chron archives are not always the most searchable.

This part in particular caught my eye:

Despite a recent reduction of more than 600 officers due to retirement as well as an unprecedented influx of new residents, the officers, civilians and managers of our department have actually reduced the likelihood that a Houstonian will be a victim of serious crime.

One supposes it depends on how one defines serious. As the Chronicle reported a little over a week ago, crime declined statewide in Texas last year, but rose in Houston, and murders actually surged in Houston. Chief Hurtt's spokesman didn't have a comment then, and now the Chief's reaction is... denial? Maybe HPD really does need to improve its statistical analysis!

In any case, we sense the Chief is trying to be much more visible of late, what with this op-ed, a rare Saturday press availability, and whispers emanating from downtown that he loves Houston and really doesn't depart for Arizona every weekend. It's almost as if someone has realized a crime problem and an absentee police chief probably won't help in winning statewide election. The problem is, a bumbling-but-present police chief may not help either.

After reading the May 13 Outlook article "Shake HPD blues with NYPD savvy" by Alan Helfman, Jay Wall and William A. Wolff, which touted the CompStat policing system as the answer to Houston's crime issues while condemning the Houston Police Department management's efforts as ineffectual, I feel compelled to provide some balance to the issue.

First, it is somewhat unrealistic to assume that any policing model is the panacea capable of solving our nation's crime problems. For all the proponents of the CompStat model, there are probably an equal number of detractors.

Law enforcement is an evolving field that must adapt to changing laws, technologies and expectations. While we are very familiar with CompStat, we are equally cognizant of policing trends across the nation and other strategies; CompStat is but one of many.

We send representatives to other major city police departments to view operations on a regular basis. Other agencies visit our city to view our best practices, as well. This sharing information is done in the interest of determining which strategies lend themselves to making Houston safer. At HPD, we must tailor our policing efforts to the needs of the community.

Timely crime data remain a priority at HPD.

Each patrol commander has crime analysts assigned to his division to provide him with daily, weekly and monthly crime trend information for his area.

This information is the basis for deployment and tactical decisions in addressing crime-related issues. At the same time, our central crime analysis division provides weekly and monthly citywide crime reports to all commanders.

I personally host a crime strategy meeting each week with my captains and command staff to discuss the crime trends in and around the city and what is being done to address them.

We have also undertaken an effort to update our crime analysis computing capabilities by moving to purchase newer, more robust systems, while also increasing personnel for this. Our goal is to have resources available around the clock every day to support operations on an immediate basis.

These changes will expand our regional information sharing capabilities and clearly demonstrate how seriously HPD views crime data.

I am proud of HPD's men and women and their efforts to address the public safety needs of our city. Despite a recent reduction of more than 600 officers due to retirement as well as an unprecedented influx of new residents, the officers, civilians and managers of our department have actually reduced the likelihood that a Houstonian will be a victim of serious crime. I am confident that the men and women of HPD will continue to maintain the highest levels of professionalism as they deliver police services to Houstonians.

-HAROLD L. HURTTchief, Houston Police Department, Houston