Thursday, July 09, 2009

We're the Only Ones Omitting Enough

LAPD's public database omits nearly 40% of this year's crimes

The map, touted as a way for residents to monitor the safety of their neighborhoods, doesn't include about 19,000 serious crimes reported in other LAPD data. Officials say they're looking into it. [More]
What?

You mean those "historic lows" LAPD claimed may not be reliable?

In other words, the cops not only can't prevent 'em, can't catch 'em and can't keep 'em, they can't even count 'em?

So how much sense does it make to mandate they be the "Only Ones" who can stop 'em?

[Via William T]

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

From the article:

"It means "someone was not being particularly concerned about their data quality," said Clay Johnson, director of software development for the nonprofit Sunlight Foundation, which republishes government data online and urges the government to release more.

Still, Johnson commends government agencies that make an effort to post data online.

Although he called a 40% data loss a big problem, he added that some level of error is unavoidable when working with complicated databases."

To which I respond: "Horse hockey"! OK -- there is no such thing as a perfect system - I know - I program for a living, but if a system of mine had a 40% error rate I'd be ashamed to show my face in public, and I certainly could not call myself a "professional" with a straight face.

It's called "testing" people...