Comments on Fun with crime stats

We took a different tack with the same numbers. Here's the main report that shows what the PI skipped over -- total crime is actually down vs. 2005. You also look up the specific change for each category of crime in your area of the city.

In other news: Ignoring the mass murders, car bombings, and civil war in Iraq, violence is in Baghdad!

PI sensationalism is sorta sad these days. I wonder if it actually works to increase circulation.

If you torture them long enough, and hard enough, numbers will confess to anything.

wow. jacksonville had 136 in 2006. ya'll are doing pretty well.

Anyone looked at a 100 year graph of the numbers?

Face it, the trend is down - way down.

The only thing dying is the murder rate. Although I totally disagree with your "well, massacres shouldn't be included in the murder rate" argument. That's pretty lame, as if those people count for nothing?? But I do agree the PI is torturing the numbers to create a story. Fun with statistics!!

It's not that massacres shouldn't count, it's that Seattle has a pretty low murder rate anyway. When the murder rate is in the low double digits, a slight uptick in one year doesn't spell disaster, especially when that uptick can be attributed to a single asshole.