From: stephen@sprunk.org   
      
   On 01-Aug-14 22:35, hancock4@bbs.cpcn.com wrote:   
   > On Friday, August 1, 2014 4:59:40 PM UTC-4, Stephen Sprunk wrote:   
   >> Nationally, Pennsylvania is ranked low in rape, burglary and   
   >> larceny but middle in murder and aggravated assault and high in   
   >> robbery.   
   >   
   > ...   
   > They also ignore that New York City drastically reduced its murder   
   > count from the dark days of the 1970s and 1980s.  If NYC could do it,   
   > so could Phila if they bothered to pay attention to what NYC and   
   > other places did.   
      
   They're also ignoring the fact that murder rates are down nationwide   
   since peaking in the late 1980s/early 1990s; it was the banning of   
   leaded gasoline and the end of the crack wars that did it, not cops.   
      
   More interesting is the variation in current rates, but adjust for   
   poverty rates and there actually isn't all that much variation.   
      
   The main factor today is the number of cops per capita.  For instance,   
   among large cities, NYC has the most cops per capita and the lowest   
   murder rate, while Dallas has the fewest cops (1/2x NYC) and highest   
   murder rate (2x NYC).  And the number of cops is determined by   
   tax/economic policies, so again it boils down to money.   
      
   S   
      
   --   
   Stephen Sprunk         "God does not play dice."  --Albert Einstein   
   CCIE #3723         "God is an inveterate gambler, and He throws the   
   K5SSS        dice at every possible opportunity." --Stephen Hawking   
      
   --- SoupGate/W32 v1.03   
    * Origin: LiveWire BBS -=*=- UseNet FTN Gateway (1:2320/1)