By the numbers
I appreciated “Off Limits: Should Cops Be Exempt from Mayor’s Budget Cuts?” by Joe Tarr (8/18/2016), who always does excellent investigative reporting. I’m writing to provide additional information.
The average staffing level for cities in the Midwest is 2.1 officers for every 1,000 residents. Two primary drivers of police staffing needs are city population size and violent crime rate. This information and officer-to-population ratios are available for all U.S. cities, courtesy of the U.S. Department of Justice. Regression analysis shows that, for a city with Madison’s population size and violent crime rate, the average number of officers per 1,000 residents is 1.597 (compared to Madison’s current ratio of 1.87). In other words, the number of officers currently employed by Madison is about 65.6 officers higher than comparable cities. Another driver of a city’s need for officers is the number of calls for police service. I was able to find data on number of calls for service per officer per year for 23 cities across the U.S., and Madison was the third lowest (again indicating ample staffing).
Gregory Gelembiuk (via email)
Clarification
Last week’s cover story, “Off Limits,” incorrectly listed the average ratio of police department officers for every 1,000 residents. The average ratio of officers to residents in the Midwest is 2.1, as of 2014. The 2.6 per 1,000 residents average that the article cited is the number of total police department employees (including civilians) per 1,000 residents.
The fine print
Why do you have the page numbers and issue date in such small print? I have meant to comment on this for several months. I personally would find larger print to be helpful, as I am sometimes catching up on several past issues. Thank you.
Carol J. Grogan (via email)
