| Police complaints and arrests are flawed measures of underlying crime. How? They depend upon (1) the reporting behavior of victims, (2) the recording procedures of the police, (3) police effectiveness in making sound arrests, and (4) in reporting complaints and arrests to higher offices -- i.e., state and federal offices such as the ICJIA or the FBI. We shall look at each of these "filters" as they affect FBI crime statistics and suggest to what extent they are flawed. |
Updated 05/20/2006