Compstat

6 Pages 1501 Words

INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND:

Compstat is a police management ideology that was pioneered by former New York City

Police Commissioner William Bratton and his management team. The sole purpose of Compstat

is to reduce crime and improve the quality of life. To achieve this end the process is based upon

four basic principles that is centered around crime reduction: (I). Accurate and timely

intelligence; (II). Effective strategy and tactics; (III). Rapid deployment of personnel and

resources; and (IV) Relentless follow-up and assessment.

Although Police Commissioner William Bratton pioneered the use compstat, those four

principles were developed from the fourteen tenets introduced by W. Edwards Deming article

call, “Total Quality Management” back in post-World War II when the U.S. was rebuilding

the Japanese mainland.

The Compstat process can be summarized in one simple statement: “Collect, analyze and

map crime data and other essential police measures on a regular basis, and hold police managers

accountable for their performance as measured by this data.”









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(I). Accurate and timely intelligence:

Compstat is an information-driven managerial process. Accurate and timely information

is of utmost importance, without which the Compstat Process would be seriously rendered

meaningless.

This basic information is necessary for prudent informed decisions by department

personnel which utilizes this information in a variety ways: calls for service, field interview

reports, prisoner debriefings, incident reports, and UCR reports. The two most common sources

for Compstat data are UCR reports and calls for service.

Accurate information is what actually occurred at a given time and place. Accuracy can

be an authenticated...