Skewed stats aren’t enough to prove bias

Malverne, L.I.: To Voicers Jim Carney and Fran Bocignone: Thank you both for your letters. I can certainly attest that your observations in regard to Bob Gangi’s op-ed on Aug. 16 (“The NYPD is still over-policing Black and Latino men“) are well-informed and that your concerns are valid. In my view, the issue isn’t necessarily the statistical accuracy of Gangi’s numbers, but how they’re framed and interpreted. Although I’m not privy to all the data he’s analyzing, I believe he may be comparing apples to oranges.

As a former NYPD crime analysis sergeant with seven years of experience in that role, I never observed the patterns he describes. A proper analysis should first consider the types and locations of the crimes leading to arrests, and whether police deployment corresponds with reported crime. The demographics of those arrests should then be compared with the demographics of the specific precincts where they occur — not simply with the citywide population, since there are precincts in the city where a majority of the population are people of color.

Police are deployed where complaints and crimes are reported. Residents of communities of color, like everyone else, want safe neighborhoods and often request police presence when they experience crime. Therefore, arrest patterns may reflect where crime occurs and where police are deployed rather than demographic bias. In my experience, the full context behind the numbers is essential before drawing conclusions about bias.

Brooklyn: The comment by Voicer Fran Bocignone alleging the reason for the over-policing of Black and Latino men is “because they........

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