The New York Police Department is so obsessed with trying to hold down its crime rate that it erased February 29, 2008, at least temporarily, says the Village Voice. A supermarket worker in the city’s East Village was killed that day by a co-worker, but according to police department statistics, it didn’t happen. The police Web site says that February 29 crimes “were excluded to ensure accurate comparisons.” Los Angeles includes Leap Day incidents in its running totals. Said an officer: “That’s a day. There was crime that day. So it was included.”
The Village Voice didn’t say it, but Newsday reported that New York includes the Leap Day figures when it compiles year end reports. Criminologist Andrew Karmen of John Jay College of Criminal Justice told Newsday: “Unless they’re excluding them from the year-end, total I suppose there’s no harm done.” The New York Daily News reported that the murder count this year is up 26 percent: 92 people were killed across the city through March 16 – 19 more victims than in the same period last year.
Link: http://www.villagevoice.com/news/0812,nypd_ignores,381244,2.html