Reginald White was arrested for his involvement in the Aug 14 state fair riots. "Reggie" White is a Hoover basketball player, along with Dwight Sistrunk, whose mother is Lillie Miller-Sistrunk, Des Moines' first African-American female police sergeant, who asked White's arresting officer to reduce his felony charges (assault with injury) to a misdemeanor and be released. When the arresting officer declined that request, Miller stated she'd bond White out herself, which we've
now learned she subsequently did.
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Are cops cost-effective?
I was shocked to discover several fallacies regarding North American law enforcement in reports, studies and court cases. One of the more notable ones is the general belief that a police department is thought to be a good investment.
A well foot-noted document by Roger Roots studied the constitutionality of cops generally, and along the way made some significant discoveries about costs, titling the section, "COPS NOT COST-EFFECTIVE DETERRENT".
Now that's a pretty blatant statement and one I'm sure most citizens would take issue with. So rather than simply trust the data at wholesale, I looked at Des Moines' police department budget for 2009 in search of some guidance on the issue.
The average cop's annual salary exceeds $100,000, not including side jobs where they act as security guards at convenience stores and bars.
What's an arrest worth?
I found, for instance, if you judge police effectiveness on arrests alone, they come at a cost of nearly $4,000 each. Pretty startling.
I found, for instance, if you judge police effectiveness on arrests alone, they come at a cost of nearly $4,000 each. Pretty startling.
Cost of protection
If you'd rather look at the economic impact of police on residents of our city, cops' fees in relationship to the average family of 5 are $1,400 per year.
If you'd rather look at the economic impact of police on residents of our city, cops' fees in relationship to the average family of 5 are $1,400 per year.
It's unnerving to realize that the police need more than $100 a month from every family. $150,000 per square mile every month? No wonder the government no longer wants citizens to police their own neighborhoods. And it makes me curious; can I look at alternative service providers? Will they guarantee that me and my stuff are safe? It's odd that we hold the cable company to higher standards than we do the police who have sworn to protect us.
Another well-promoted and self-perpetuated fallacy is that police work is extremely dangerous -- except that the numbers don't support the perception. A recent news story marking the 75th anniversary of the Iowa State Patrol had the number of killed state troopers since 1935 in the single digits. Construction is a far more dangerous job, but you never hear that on the evening news.
These things make you wonder how charities - that function solely for raising money for families of killed police officers -- manage to hoodwink their donors into coughing up cash.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Realty Market: Local broadcaster paints positive picture of Midwest real estate market, citing "new report"
If you watched the news on Channel 13 last night, you saw Erin Kiernan give the glowing housing numbers. She said Midwest sales figures "jumped 10%" compared to an 8% increase nationally. Kiernan also reported that prices increased by a percentage point and that the National Association of Realtors attributed the "spike in sales" to the $8,000 federal tax credit.
The story never mentioned the author of the real estate report, but it's fair to assume the figures were carefully crafted by the N.A.R., a national group that represents real estate professionals, and then regurgitated on the late news.
Localize!
Journalists are often encouraged to put a local angle to national stories to make them more relevant to audiences. In this case, however, no such work was done. In fact, had 10 minutes been invested in some basic research, we'd have learned that things aren't so bright in the metro, where average February sales are off 15.5% from last year and the total sales are down nearly 19%, fueled by 59% fewer transactions.
And in the last 30 days, sales were down by 39.4% over the same period last year and the number of sales represented only 41% of last year's figures.
The housing story doesn't appear on the broadcaster's website.
Polk County Residential Deed Sales - by the numbers
02/23/2010 - 03/22/2010
Qty: 283
Average Sale Price: 141,504
Total sales: 40,045,690
02/23/2009 - 03/22/2009
Qty: 479
Average Sale Price: 138,083
Total sales: 66,141,700
-------------------------------
02/01/2010 - 02/28/2010
Qty: 374
Average: 126,291
Total: 47,232,820
02/01/2009 - 02/28/2009
Qty: 394
Average: 147,673
Total: 58,183,220
The story never mentioned the author of the real estate report, but it's fair to assume the figures were carefully crafted by the N.A.R., a national group that represents real estate professionals, and then regurgitated on the late news.
Localize!
Journalists are often encouraged to put a local angle to national stories to make them more relevant to audiences. In this case, however, no such work was done. In fact, had 10 minutes been invested in some basic research, we'd have learned that things aren't so bright in the metro, where average February sales are off 15.5% from last year and the total sales are down nearly 19%, fueled by 59% fewer transactions.
And in the last 30 days, sales were down by 39.4% over the same period last year and the number of sales represented only 41% of last year's figures.
The housing story doesn't appear on the broadcaster's website.
Polk County Residential Deed Sales - by the numbers
02/23/2010 - 03/22/2010
Qty: 283
Average Sale Price: 141,504
Total sales: 40,045,690
02/23/2009 - 03/22/2009
Qty: 479
Average Sale Price: 138,083
Total sales: 66,141,700
-------------------------------
02/01/2010 - 02/28/2010
Qty: 374
Average: 126,291
Total: 47,232,820
02/01/2009 - 02/28/2009
Qty: 394
Average: 147,673
Total: 58,183,220
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