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The Truth Behind America’s Crime Stats (Part 1) · Heroes Behind the Badge

• 0:07
  Paul Boomer: Welcome to Heroes Behind the Badge, the podcast that brings
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  you the real stories of America's law enforcement professionals.
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  Today we're diving into one of the most critical issues facing
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  law enforcement and public safety.
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  The disconnect between what crime statistics tell us and what Americans
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  are actually experiencing on the streets.
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  Our guest is Len Sipes a nationally recognized crime data expert with five
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  decades in the criminal justice system.
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  Len has served as a police officer, federal spokesperson, and
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  award-winning public relations expert.
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  He's traveled the country teaching law enforcement agencies how to
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  control their message and get the truth out about what they do.
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  What Len has discovered about crime statistics will shock you all.
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  Politicians and media outlets point to declining reported crime rates.
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  There's another set of data that tells a very different story, one that explains
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  why Americans feel less safe than ever.
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  This is part one of our conversation about the hidden truth behind
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  America's crime statistics.
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  Let's begin.
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  Craig Floyd: You know, we're big into the defund, the police movement screwed
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  up our nation, crime skyrocketed.
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  Now we're refunding the police and, um, you know, giving them
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  the resources they need to do their job, more cops, et cetera.
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  Um, are, is there data or, or are you, you know, your expertise are, are you in
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  consistent with that message that we're seeing an uptick in police uh, funding
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  and more officers, and thus we're seeing now data showing c uh, crime going down.
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  Is there good data to support that, uh, premise?
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  Len Sipes: Uh, when it comes to data, it's always yes, no, and maybe so.
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  There is a little bit of evidence indicating that
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  police hiring is stabilizing.
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  Um, I did an article, uh, a couple months ago, um, per the, uh, Bureau
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  of Labor Statistics saying that we were 25,000 cops, uh, actually
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  police employees, uh, down.
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  Um, and you know, so we've lost tens of thousands of
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  police officers in the process.
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  Um.
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  I'm getting reports from all over the country as to cities not responding,
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  uh, to, uh, property crimes, um, taking a long time for police to show
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  up at, um, violent crime incidents.
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  Um, we still are hundreds and hundreds of police officers down.
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  Mm-hmm.
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  Um.
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  And in some cases some cities close to a thousand police officers down.
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  So where there are indications, uh, per data from the
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  Department of Justice that um,
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  you take a look at correctional statistics and, and we're now seeing
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  more people being placed in jail.
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  Um, correctional numbers are starting to reverse, uh, a long-term decline.
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  So there's obviously more activity going on now, and I think the system and the
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  country has taken a bit of a turn, but it's still not where we need to be.
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  Craig Floyd: Okay, good.
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  Okay.
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  And what we thought.
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  Dennis Collins: I was looking Len, uh, at, at your, uh, at your bio
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  and I guess my question to you, is there anything you haven't done?
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  You have certainly, uh, you have certainly been well, ex-police officer.
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  Uh yep.
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  You are an author.
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  Yep.
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  You're a podcaster.
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  Yep.
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  You're, uh, you were in the federal system.
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  You're a retired federal senior spokesperson.
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  I like that.
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  Yep.
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  And most important, you are recognized nationally as a crime data and you're
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  an award, uh, a crime data expert, i'm sorry, and an award-winning
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  public and media relations expert.
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  I love it.
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  Len Sipes: We, we traveled the country.
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  Um.
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  When we, when I first did a podcast, um, traveled to country teaching,
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  um, principally law enforcement agencies, but any government agency,
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  um, how to do podcast, um, how to do television shows, how to do radio
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  shows, how to put them on the internet.
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  We won a slew of awards for that.
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  Um, what I've been preaching to law enforcement.
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  Um, agencies is that you now get to control your own message and you
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  really do need, need to take that very seriously in terms of getting the word
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  out about what law enforcement does.
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  Uh, I'm sick and tired of seeing law enforcement being kicked to the canned.
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  Um, I really am tired of it.
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  The defund, the police move movement, um, was a pivotal issue for me.
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  Um, I, I, you know, have a lot of progressive friends.
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  You, you can't be in government without encountering, um, a slew of progressives.
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  And, uh, you know, there was a certain tolerance.
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  I just wrote an article, um, basically saying, uh, just that, that when it came
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  to the defund, the police movement, um, everything pretty much changed for me.
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  Um, I knew what was going to happen.
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  I knew we were going to lose thousands of police officers.
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  Uh, I've spoken directly to a lot of cops who uh, basically said, that's it.
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  I'm done.
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  Um, if you're gonna expect me to go out and risk my life for your benefit
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  and, and call me, you know, make me out to be less than a human, I'm done.
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  Sorry, I can go someplace else and make more money.
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  Dennis Collins: As you know, uh, Citizens Behind the Badge, which is the sponsor
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  of this podcast, Heroes Behind the Badge, that is our main goal, is to fight this
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  defame and defund the police movement because we recognized five years ago,
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  Craig Floyd called Bill Erfurth and I and said, Hey, we have got to do something.
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  And Craig, of course, having the credentials as the, uh, CEO
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  Emeritus of the Law Enforcement Memorial and the museum mm-hmm.
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  He had the idea and we joined them and five years later, looks like
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  maybe we're making a little dent, but.
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  Len Sipes: We're making a little dent.
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  Yeah.
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  We're making a little dent.
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  We're not back to where we need to be.
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  And I'm just not sure that, um, the average police officer out there is
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  not, um, sometimes reconsidering, um, what it is that they wanted, want to do.
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  When I was a cop myself, um, there were plenty of instances where I said to
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  myself, you know, one little move on my part, um, in a very difficult situation
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  could end up with me in the front page of newspapers throughout the country.
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  Dennis Collins: For sure.
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  Len Sipes: Um, that it's impossible to go through years of law enforcement
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  without making a mistake or coming close to making a mistake.
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  Um, the society needs to understand that society needs to, I the overwhelming
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  majority of the cops that I've worked with, um, and I, you know, continue to
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  work with police officers throughout my career and law enforcement
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  agencies throughout my career.
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  You know, it is a difficult job to say the least, and it is almost
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  impossible not to make mistakes.
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  It is almost impossible.
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  Dennis Collins: Sure.
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  For sure.
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  Len Sipes: Um, and, and people need to understand that.
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  I think the overwhelming majority of cops are good, decent human beings who'd
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  simply want to go home after their shifts.
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  To their wives and children.
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  That's all they wanna do.
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  They're not out there to create problems.
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  They're not out there to, to harm anybody.
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  Uh, all you have to do is go along to get along.
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  It's, it really is just that simple.
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  Dennis Collins: No, and again, that's our philosophy.
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  And, and, and Craig has fought hard, as you know, for most of his adult life.
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  Yes.
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  In support of police, but today I think we wanna focus in on some,
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  I know this bothers all of us, uh, Craig, myself, Bill Erfurth.
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  We, we are bothered by this, this, I don't know, maybe it's a, a mix up or something.
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  It seems that when you read the headlines or listen to media, the crime stats
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  are down and yet they're down three 40.
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  Crime stats are down, but yet the public.
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  From what I can see is more fearful than ever of crime.
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  Yes.
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  How, Len, you're an expert in this.
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  How can that be?
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  Len Sipes: Well, look, uh, first of all, the average citizen does
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  not, and everybody I'm talking to right now, they understand this.
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  The average citizen does not pay attention to crime statistics.
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  The average person, what they see, taste, smell, feel, touch, that's
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  what guides them in terms of whether or not, uh, the, the, they have
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  a fear or concern about crime.
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  Right?
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  Uh, fear of crime, uh, per Gallup is at record levels and there's
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  multiple other pieces of research that basically says the same thing.
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  Now, I was on a forum the other day talking about this, and, um, so a young
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  lady, uh, basically said, uh, people who, who don't get the fact that crime is
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  down, um, are stupid, they're their fear.
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  They're stupid for, for how they feel.
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  Um, you know, I can't imagine anything more insulting, but I've
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  read dozens of articles from national publications who have essentially
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  stated, made the same statement.
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  Now they may not say stupid.
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  Um, they may use another more politically correct description, but you know, you
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  have major media out there saying, why the hell can't people understand that crime
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  is down and their lives are now safer?
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  You have people out there basically saying we've never lived doing safer times.
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  Um, I think that's pure malarkey.
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  Um, you know, I'm not going to be in a position to criticize the average
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  American in terms of how they feel.
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  That bothers me deeply.
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  The other part of it is the National Crime Victimization
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  Survey, which is 50 years old.
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  Nobody seems to know what the National Crime Victimization Survey is.
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  Dennis Collins: In fact, when I was doing my homework, the
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  that came up and I've been, yes.
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  You know, I've been around law enforcement my whole life.
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  I've supported law enforcement, my daughter's in law enforcement.
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  I've never heard of that before.
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  And I'll bet you 99.9% of Americans have never heard of of that.
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  Could you explain that to us?
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  Okay.
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  And why that makes a difference.
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  Len Sipes: So I became, decades ago, the senior specialist for crime
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  prevention and crime statistics for the Department of Justice's clearinghouse.
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  And, and when I walked in, um, I sat down with people from the Bureau of
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  Justice Statistics and say, would you please explain to me what the hell the
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  National Crime Victimization Survey is?
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  Yeah.
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  What is that?
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  Yeah.
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  So in any event, it is a 50-year-old survey.
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  Uh, the United States Department of Census said it is the principle source of
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  crime statistics for the United States.
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  It surveys people 12 and over, uh, in a panel design every six months, and it asks
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  them a very action oriented questions.
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  It doesn't say.
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  Have you been robbed?
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  It's they ask, has somebody taken something from you through
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  force or threat of force?
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  Right?
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  They use very action oriented words, so there's no doubt that the
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  National Crime Victimization Survey is far more accurate than the FBI
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  crime statistics, far more accurate.
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  Dennis Collins: That's interesting.
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  Len Sipes: When you have 38%, which is recent US Department of Justice Data,
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  38%, we're talking about cities now.
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  38% of violent crimes being reported to law enforcement in urban areas.
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  The overwhelming majority of what it is that people are getting in
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  terms of reported crime statistics, um, is, is a huge under count.
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  So to make a long story short.
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  We've just had a 44% increase in rates of violent crime through the National
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  Crime Victimization Survey for the last two major reporting periods.
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  Dennis Collins: Did you say 44%?
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  Len Sipes: 44%.
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  It is the highest, i've been studying crime statistics for decades, and it
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  is the highest increase in violent crime that I've ever encountered.
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  Wow.
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  Undoubtedly, 44%.
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  Paul Boomer: Part one of our eye-opening conversation with crime data Len Sipes.
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  As you've heard, there's a massive gap between the crime, statistics,
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  politicians use and what's actually happening in America's communities.
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  Next.
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  In part two, we'll explore how this statistical manipulation
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  affects real policy decisions.
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  Why the media isn't telling the whole story and what it means for the
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  future of law enforcement in America.
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  You can find more of Len's research at analysis@crimeinamerica.net.
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  His work is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand what's really
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  happening with crime in our country.
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  If you believe in supporting our nation's law enforcement officers, visit
• 12:50
  us at Citizens Behind the Badge.org to sign our declaration of support.
• 12:55
  Follow us on social media and share this episode.
• 12:58
  The Truth About Crime Statistics needs to be heard.
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  Remember, our law enforcement officers are doing their jobs with fewer
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  resources and less support than ever.
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  They deserve the truth to be told about the challenges they face
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  and the critical role they play in keeping our communities safe.
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  Join us next for part two of our conversation with Len about the hidden
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  truth behind America's crime crisis.