Here’s Why Local Police Are Reducing major charges, (Felonies) To Lesser Charges

Police solve just 2% of all major crimes

As Americans across the nation protest police violence, people have begun to call for cuts or changes in public spending on police. But neither these nor other proposed reforms address a key problem with solving crimes.

My recent review of 50 years of national crime data confirms that, as police report, they don’t solve most serious crimes in America. But the real statistics are worse than police data show. In the U.S. it’s rare that a crime report leads to police arresting a suspect who is then convicted of the crime.

The data show that consistently over the decades, fewer than half of serious crimes are reported to police. Few, if any arrests are made in those cases.

In reality, about 11% of all serious crimes result in an arrest, and about 2% end in a conviction. Therefore, the number of people police hold accountable for crimes – what I call the “criminal accountability” rate – is very low.

Many crimes aren’t reported

Police can only work on solving crimes they are aware of, and can only report statistics about their work based on criminal behavior they know about. But there is a huge slice of crime police never find out about.

By comparing surveys of the public with police reports, it’s clear that less than half of serious violent felonies – crimes like aggravated assault and burglary – ever get reported to the police.

Real arrest rates

In 2018, the rate of arrest for serious felony crimes reported to police was about 22%. But because twice as many crimes happen as the police are told about, the arrest rate for all crimes that happened was half what police reported – just 11%.

Real conviction rates

The official percentage of serious crimes where a person is actually convicted is even lower, though data is hard to confirm. The Bureau of Justice Statistics has not reported national conviction rates for serious crimes since 2006 – but in that year, out of all serious crimes reported to the police, only 4.1% of cases ended with an individual convicted in the wake of a reported crime.

Again, taking into account the fact that twice as many crimes happen, the national conviction rate in 2006 was actually closer to 2%.

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Publishers Notes: While we impatiently wait for local arrests in two Worcester County hit and run deaths, we also note that the Salisbury Police Chief continues to allow felony arrests to be reduced to lesser charges because of statistics. Here on the Shore we are experiencing false charges, massive DUI arrests because they’re easy, (two drinks and you are a drunk) the failure of officers even refusing to show up for crimes and instead they tell you to simply call your insurance company and the list goes on and on.

However, when it comes to major charges like Worcester County murders, need I say more? Police these days would rather give you a speeding ticket, one tag light out ticket so they can smell pot or alcohol or whatever else they want to make up, swarm Rt. 50 in Ocean City and pull you over for slightly going past the white line at a stop light, yet they can’t solve MURDERS from hit and runs. Worcester County is a big part of the 2% mentioned above.

Personally, I have always supported law enforcement but the fact that the local police are reducing charges, NOT reporting the actual crime rates and being held accountable for such numbers/percentages and the lack of even simply charging people for crimes they know were committed is starting to weigh heavy in my mind as far as support goes. Are they really helping our communities, (seriously) or are they simply ticket writers for speeding and or DUI’s any more. One Friday or Saturday night on Rt. 50 in west Ocean City will convince you what police represent any more. The sheer volume of police cruisers will blow you away. THEN when they are NEEDED to SOLVE crimes, 5 months go by with NO NEWS!