#crimereporting — Public Fediverse posts

The New York Times, which I was taught, in college in the 90s, is the "paper of record" for the US, disappoints me nearly every day, especially in crime reporting. Today's exhibit: uncritical reporting on the governor & mayor announcing a 16% drop in crime in the subway system after a massive increase in police presence & enforcement. The Times writes what could be a press release for local & state gov't instead of news reporting, fawningly quoting how crime has been reduced by 16%.

They mention the budget cost ($62mil) but not the disproportionate increase in enforcement -- I had to turn elsewhere to learn that arrests were up 43% with a 93% increase in arrests for "minor crimes" and a 170% increase in fare evasion enforcement. Given that the NYT does point out that, even at its recent peak, subway crime is rare for all riders, it seems reasonable to question whether the direct spending on cops, the indirect costs of increased prosecution & incarceration, the opportunity costs of not having police elsewhere, and the impact of all this enforcement on, largely, the poorest of New Yorkers is a reasonable tradeoff for what is, in absolute terms, a very small decrease in crime. And, of course, the paper doesn't begin to raise the question of whether or not there might be a more effective approach.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/27/nyregion/crime-subway-police.html

#NYC #transit #crime #NYTimes #journalism #CrimeReporting #subway #CriminalJustice #NewYork