Friday, April 27, 2007

Delayed Crime "Stats"

Anonymous said...

I think The Delta Democrat Times is doing a great disservice by printing crime stats that are two months behind. How can Greenvillians keep up with current crime trends. Look at online editions of the Greenwood Commonwealth and The Natchez Democrat. All Crimes and Fire calls are reported the next day. I'm sure this helps parents identify bad people that their children are exposed to. Plus it may help the community identify vulnerabilities that may exist in their neighborhoods.

The writer makes a good point: news is "news" when it happens. After two months, it becomes history. A more alarming statistic which has been told to me by more than one law enforcement officer, is that the DDT reports only about 1/3 of the crime that really occurs in Greenville. That IS scary!

Obviously, our local paper wants to put a positive spin on Greenville whenever possible. I am afraid that if the DDT printed 100% of all 911 and fire calls every day, they would have to add another section.

Forthright

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I watched the city council meeting a few weeks ago. The police report for the month of March there was only 750+ calls. I don't remember how many arrest but i think that # was well over 500. With that kind of crime and arrest the paper would have to have another section. That could be the crime report section.