`FUDGED' CRIME STATS HIDE DOMESTIC ABUSE.Byline: KERRY CAVANAUGH Staff Writer Last year's dramatic 28 percent drop in violent crime is skewed skewed curve of a usually unimodal distribution with one tail drawn out more than the other and the median will lie above or below the mean. skewed Epidemiology adjective Referring to an asymmetrical distribution of a population or of data because the LAPD 1. LAPD - Link Access Procedure on the D channel. 2. LAPD - Los Angeles Police Department. downgraded many domestic-abuse cases, raising concerns that funds could be cut for battered women and children, advocates said Monday. The City Council's Public Safety Committee ordered an analysis of domestic assaults reported in 2005 -- the year the Los Angeles Police Department "LAPD" and "L.A.P.D." redirect here. For other uses, see LAPD (disambiguation).  This article or section is written like an . reclassified domestic assaults in which the victim suffered minor injuries or had no injuries. Because those incidents are considered battery rather than aggravated assault A person is guilty of aggravated assault if he or she attempts to cause serious bodily injury to another or causes such injury purposely, knowingly, or recklessly under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life; or attempts to cause or purposely or , they are not included in the violent-crime statistics generated by the department and widely used by other government agencies. The LAPD reported a 40 percent drop in aggravated-assault cases in 2005, but there was no breakdown for domestic-violence crimes. ``There is a direct relationship between the number of victims and the amount of funding programs receive,'' said Karen Earl, executive director of the Jenesse Center, an abuse-intervention program. ``These numbers trickle down Trickle down An economic theory that the support of businesses that allows them to flourish will eventually benefit middle- and lower-income people, in the form of increased economic activity and reduced unemployment. and are reported to every funding source.'' Councilman Bernard Parks, a former LAPD chief, took the department to task for reclassifying domestic-violence assaults without first consulting the City Council. The city was sued in the 1970s over its handling of domestic-violence cases. As a result, the council decided to treat all spousal- and child-abuse cases as violent crimes. Park also chastised chas·tise tr.v. chas·tised, chas·tis·ing, chas·tis·es 1. To punish, as by beating. See Synonyms at punish. 2. To criticize severely; rebuke. 3. Archaic To purify. the department for touting a dramatic drop in crime without explaining how the reclassification Reclassification The process of changing the class of mutual funds once certain requirements have been met. These requirements are generally placed on load mutual funds. Reclassification is not considered to be a taxable event. of domestic-violence cases impacted the figures. ``For a year we heard that violent crime is down 28 percent because of good police work. Nobody has ever said there's an asterisk and we changed how we report crimes,'' Parks said. However, LAPD officials said the reclassification was disclosed in reports about crime statistics, and Chief William Bratton also brought up the change in press conferences. Cmdr. Charlie Beck told the panel the LAPD reclassified its domestic assaults in order to comply with federal guidelines. ``There's no change in the way the department handles domestic-violence calls. The only change has been the way we report the statistics to the FBI,'' said Beck, adding that the less-serious domestic-violence incidents can still be prosecuted as a felony in California. In addition, the LAPD is debating whether to include all domestic-violence assaults -- minor and serious -- in the weekly crime statistics distributed to the City Council, the media and posted on the department's Web site. Still, some council members and domestic-violence watchdogs said they were concerned that the statistics could impact officials' ability to prevent domestic abuse, which can escalate to more violent incidents. ``These are serious crimes and we wanted to count them and categorize them as serious,'' Councilwoman Janice Hahn Janice Hahn is a member of the Los Angeles City Council representing the 15th district. Hahn was elected in 2001 and reelected in 2005, running unopposed. The 15th District encompasses the Los Angeles communities of Watts, Wilmington, Harbor Gateway, Harbor City, Athens on the said. ``If Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. is not safer for women and it's not safer for children then we need to make sure our statistics reflect that.'' kerry.cavanaugh(at)dailynews.com (818) 713-3746 |
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