Comments on: Adjusted homicide count

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 17:05:29 +0000

Wayne Trefry was a homicide. The police know who did it and have a signed confession, but the prosecutor has not yet done anything about it. We have contacted the prosecutor’s office but our inquiry has not been answered.

By: Matthew Stone

Matthew Stone — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 21:12:55 +0000

I’m going to agree with Bart. Homicide is the act of one man taking the life of another. Police action shootings, self defense, and so on, while may be justifiable, should still be factored in and shouldn’t just be ignored.

Carl Brizzi himself used the homicide rate rather than the murder rate a couple weeks ago on his FM radio show Crimewatch. At the time he said it, it matched the # bartlies.com exactly. He isn’t afraid of using that statistic, so I don’t see why anyone else should be either. It’s still a decrease compared to last year, though I’d also argue that it isn’t really something that any one person can claim credit for (though they certainly will try)

By: Bart

Bart — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 16:39:37 +0000

There is a legal distinction. There is a social distinction. But in the end they are all violent acts which represent a real problem in the city, regardless of whether the number is ‘X’ or ‘X-3′; whether it it 3 digits or 2 digits; whether we are better or worse than Chicago, Detroit or NYC. Even a justifiable homicide is still a blemish on the city’s image.

By: Abdul

Abdul — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 16:02:27 +0000

I think what’s key here (and the same went for the Peterson folks) is there is a difference between homicides, police action shootings and self-defense. The more accurate term would be what is the city’s murder rate (which would not include police action shootings and self-defense).

And for you Paul, I’d be more concerned about malpractice and not knowing the difference between the 4th and 5th amendments to the Constitution than what I post here.

By: Bart

Bart — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 00:02:08 +0000

You’re right Paul, I had updated the database and didn’t change the article text after I discovered the error. Thanks for the correction.

I think Abdul is just trying to keep me honest. That’s a good thing. I’m trying to make sure none simply get forgotten, as I swear was happening before I started my own tally. The numbers varied wildly (by ten or so) from media report to media report when I decided to keep track of them. Now, as Matt Stone noticed, the media reports stay close to my number.

By: Paul K. Ogden

Paul K. Ogden — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 23:48:35 +0000

Bart,

Correction: You mean far “northwest” side, not “northeast.”

I’m not sure why police action shootings wouldn’t be included in the homicide rate since self-defense shootings are.

I know that Abdul will be terribly disappointed if he can’t brag about how Ballard kept the 2009 homicide rate in double figures.

By: Bart

Bart — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 19:07:26 +0000

True – at the local level.

However the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting database does track and report them as a separate statistic. For simplicity, and because they are infrequent, I elected to just mark them with the ‘shield’.

By: Abdul

Abdul — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 18:42:30 +0000

Actually the number is more like 99, police action shootings have never been included in the homicide rate.