Commissioner’s Correspondence

COMMISSIONER’S CORRESPONDENCE – Implementing the CompStat methodology, and leveraging this system as an accountability and public safety tool:

Following my appointment as your police commissioner January of 2023, one of my top priorities was to bring the CompStat methodology to the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department.

Originally pioneered in the New York City Police Department, this methodology involves the compiling and review of crime statistics at a citywide level and broken down by geographic areas of responsibility. Crime data is collected and compared against the 7-day, 28-day and Year-To-Date periods for the year prior, as well as Year-To-Date periods for prior years.

I learned about this methodology during my tenure with the NYPD, when I was responsible for presenting during these weekly meetings. I subsequently brought CompStat to my prior departments in Chicago and Wilmington, Delaware, and saw the benefits that this approach brings.

On a weekly basis, we gather SLMPD leaders to hold a CompStat meeting, during which commanding officers of districts and specialized units present their data, address crime patterns or trends, and speak to the plan they have developed to respond to those trends – and the resource allocation associated with their plan.

CompStat is an accountability tool, which helps ensure that leaders throughout our department are monitoring crime trends and deploying officers and resources accordingly. It is also a mechanism to capture and distill real-time crime data in a meaningful way. CompStat reports help identify areas where we need to improve, as well as crime categories where we have seen reductions.

With the launch of our modernized, user-friendly and resource-packed website last month, we have now begun to make these weekly CompStat reports available to the public. These reports, which will be updated regularly, make it much easier to review crime stats – whether citywide or in your specific patrol area or district.

If you haven’t already, I encourage you to visit our new website and explore some of the new features we have made available to our residents. I also hope you’ll check out www.SLMPD.org/Stats to review our CompStat report!