TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Oversight Agency Signs Off On Police Audit

ADVERTISEMENT

By VALERIE KALFRIN, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 20, 2007

TAMPA - An oversight agency of the Legislature questioned the methodology behind an audit of the Tampa Police Department's crime statistics but has found no evidence police underreported crimes to drop the city's rate.

The audit referred to in a memo released Wednesday by the state's Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability was conducted by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement this year at the state's request.

Completed in July, the audit found a few slip-ups in how police classify crime but no evidence of widespread underreporting to explain a 36 percent drop in the city's crime rate from 2002 to 2006.

Wednesday, the oversight agency said the audit had examined only the crime-reporting processes during January 2007, not those in place during 2002 and 2006; therefore, the findings 'cannot be generalized to the ... time period in question.'

However, the police department's other initiatives, such as hiring 28.5 percent more officers since 2002, 'likely have some positive impact on reducing crime,' the memorandum states.

The agency recommended the department formally evaluate these initiatives, perhaps through a local university, to 'make the best use of its law enforcement resources.'

Reached by phone Wednesday, Police Chief Stephen Hogue said he hoped the state agency's assessment would satisfy those still skeptical about the drop in the city's crime statistics.

'It just validates everything we've been saying,' Hogue said.

State Sen. Ronda Storms, R-Valrico, asked the oversight agency to conduct its review two weeks after Mayor Pam Iorio's re-election in March. A TV news report and Marion Lewis, a former Tampa police captain, had questioned the city's crime statistics during Iorio's campaign, with Lewis asking the department to hire an independent auditor. The request was denied.

Storms could not be reached late Wednesday. An FDLE spokeswoman also could not be reached.
Hogue said he did not find the audit's methodology flawed. In fact, the oversight agency 'was absolutely aware' of the methodology, he said.

To his understanding, the audit selected January's reports to review because errors could be corrected easily, and those in previous years could not.

'That month was as good as any other month,' he said.

Reporter Valerie Kalfrin can be reached at (813) 259-7800 or vkalfrin@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT