Friday, August 27, 2010

Clearance rate rises

The clearance rate is the percentage of all Part 1 Crimes that are solved by an arrest.   Actually, it’s a little more complex than that, but if you really want to read the details, you’ll have to do your own digging. 

Nationally, the clearance rate for Part 1 Crimes always hovers around 21%, though it varies dramatically by offense.  It is highest for crimes of personal violence, and lowest for property crimes.  Until recent years, Lincoln’s clearance rate hovered around 24%.  Lately, though, our clearance rate has been increasing, and last year, it hit 30% for the first time on record.  That's quite a change from a 22% rate in 2004.  Through the first 7 months of 2010 it is running 31.2%. 

Our clearance rate is pretty remarkable.  The figure is a little difficult to compare from city to city, because not everyone is equally attentive to applying the FBI definitions of “cleared,” but we have been consistent in our work, so the increase is a real one, not an artifact of some kind of change in reporting practices or coding. 

I attribute this phenomenon to two factors: very good follow-up work by our officers, and our excellent information resources, which put a rather incredible amount of investigative information in the hands of our officers.  I can’t ignore, however, a third factor: a robust flow of leads and information from our citizens that has been kicked up a notch in the past two years. 

Whatever the causes, the increase in our clearance rate, and it’s overall excellence, is certainly something our staff can be proud of. 

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is not hard to clear a traffic crash but time consuming. With an increase in traffic citations a fall in the number of accidents may appear.
As for the accident at 61 and Logan and the neighbors helping the children in the rolled over SUV, I offer the following.

This kind of crash is because of drivers like the one in the white pick up going 70 MPH on O street from 33rd at 5:30 A.M this morning. I do not care that they have all those moron stickers on the topper. You are a Volunteer fire fighter? I say your insane. A police car saw it and could do nothing as it was going the other direction.. When you drve in Lincoln you are risking your life each time you get behind the wheel. The traffic police are pathetic. But it is not reflective on the person, it is reflective on the amount of money that is used to fund our police department. Even LSO had a finger cut off by the Lancaster County Board. The pay raise percent for those who make the roads a safe place to be is much less than what raise is taled about in the Mayors office. Get in line, as the next fatal accident will be on 22nd and P street as there have been many smash ups to date at this location. The insurance company and those who pay out claims would welcome more traffic police. Saving money and giving the mayor a raise comes first to drivers being safe. If those neighbors would spend one percent of the energy on asking for more traffic citations issued and better police attention by increasing the funding, they may have fewer accidents to run to. But then they would have no drama.
To top all this off, the PSO positions will leave a void, further taxing the police departments resources!

Former Deputy D said...

LPD,
Keep up the good work on clearance rates.
I hope the end result of the home medical emergency ended with "Good Results!"
On a side note, I graduated LPD Training Academy June 05' for another Law Enforcement Agency. if I were to apply for LPD in the current enrollment, would I apply as a Police Recruit or Officer? I'm not currently working Law Enforcement or certified, but feel a strong desire to "Get Back Into It" with LPD.

Anonymous said...

Chief,
Have any of the videos or digital images sent to your department resulted in a successful conclusion to an investigation? What type of videos would be of assistance to your department?

Gun Nut

Anonymous said...

"The figure is a little difficult to compare from city to city, because not everyone is equally attentive to applying the FBI definitions of “cleared,”"

You mean like this? That's a really interesting set of events.