A Viewer Writes: Salisbury Maryland Police Department Crime Stats

I have been following your reporting on crime statistics, especially as it relates to the Salisbury Police Department for some time now. I have knowledge on how this is done as I spent numerous years as a former supervisor at SPD. Let me try to explain the way reporting is done. First, when an agency states that crime is up or down they are referring to what is called Part I crimes. This consists of Murder, Rape, Robbery, Assault, Burglary, Theft and Motor Vehicle Theft. Any incident not categorized in one of these crimes will never show up in a “crime statistics” report. An example would be if a burglary investigation led to the offense classified as vandalism. A brick thrown through a window in of itself doesn’t show a motive for burglary or any attempt to burglarize a property. On the other hand, putting that incident in a category not listed above will not list the crime in their statistical report. It is that simple to lower your reported burglaries or any crime category.

I’m sure you noticed that SPD converting over to Crime Reports is not reporting most calls they respond to. This is not implying they are covering up anything and Crime Reports does present the information in a very nice graphical presentation. Complete it is not. Either they (SPD), are not aware of what is being reported to Crime Reports or they are actively preventing information from being released. How can you go from 120-200 calls for service a day to 8 incidents (I just queried Crime reports for Oct. 20, 2017). My guess is incompetence. It appears this current chief feels that this way to limit information and push the work to someone else. In today’s world how much would it take to add an interactive mapping function to their prior web site? More important than that, who is compiling these report. All agencies are required to perform background checks, training which includes security and dissemination, to all personnel that have access to this information. Under this current administration, all IT functions have been abandoned and transferred to the city IT staff. On the one hand I understand the reason ($) to do this, but do not agree as this data is very sensitive. I am sure that proper vetting has occurred.

Finally the topic, predictive policing software. I read somewhere SPD pays $50k a year for a package that according to their web site (http://www.predpol.com/how-predictive-policing-works/) does not tell you who commits a crime only when and where. $50k tells you a geographic area to be where there is a high likelihood a crime will occur. Flood police in that area and I am sure crime will go down in that area, but you’re just moving it to another area. That’s called displacing crime not solving crime. But then again it’s not their money and if they displace crime to the county, well then it’s the county’s problem. How many arrests are attributed to this software package? I’ve already shown how easy it is to reduce crime, yet if you don’t arrest the individual (s), they will just go somewhere else to commit the crime.

Publishers Notes: If you ever wondered why I have gone after this Police Chief, Mayor and City Council, now you know. They, (all of them) have done everything in their power to cover up crime. It absolutely amazes me how every local media source covers up the incredible crime in Salisbury Maryland. Is this corruption? Is what they are doing even legal?

Now you have a guy named Jack Heath wanting to run for County Executive, all the while participating in covering up crime. Is it fair on the people interested in moving here and buying homes? Is it fair on parents who look into crime before they commit to sending their child to Salisbury University? Is it fair on all of the women living and visiting Salisbury when there are so many rapes? It's time for the citizens to come forward and due their civic duty and run for office. That's the only way things will ever change around here.