Judging from comments on our site and a NY Times reaction piece, New Yorkers didn't seem much surprised by "shocking" new allegations that NYPD crime statistics are fudged, cooked and patched. And yet many still think the city is safe and getting safer; regardless of the stats, the Times finds quite a few people who trust the force to serve and protect. “The N.Y.P.D. lays their lives on the line for us every day,” said a senior minister at the Metropolitan Community United Methodist Church in Harlem. “But they’re human. Mistakes are made. I know that people pad books. They pad books in the banking system. I’ve even known ministers to pad books in the church. It just needs to be investigated.”
A recent study of retired NYPD higher-ups revealed that, under pressure to produce positive stats, cops routinely underreported crime and tried to convince victims not to file reports. Still, city dwellers said that instead of letting numbers tell them how safe their streets are, they rely on first-hand experience. “You can always play with statistics,” the owner of a Lower East Side pickle shop told the Times. “But I really think that crime has gone down. What you see is true.”
More than corrupt stats, some New Yorkers thought inactivity was the scourge of the NYPD. “If you go sit in the precinct, you’ll see the nonchalant, lax attitude when people come in wanting to report crimes,” said the leader of the Brooklyn Anti-Violence Coalition. “It discourages people who were victimized because they’re not getting an appropriate response.” The frustrated owner of a Jackson Heights Indian restaurant recalled how cops let drunk hooligans off with a verbal warning when they stormed in and pushed him around. He told them, "Officers, you’re supposed to do something."
