Serious Question: Why won't Pam Iorio allow an Independent Investigation?

There has never EVER been a worse time to be a resident of Tampa, FL. Far too many people being victimized in heinous ways in the Greater Bay Area and throughout Florida.

In fact, until about the year 2003 which is when Pam Iorio took office (and I like to think of that as a coincidence but the date is what it is which I never noticed until I investigated the # of homeless which you might recall has RISEN TWENTY SIX PERCENT)--- anyway --- I remember being happy to live in Tampa, enamored of my city (to a point, I mean come on...) and ready to return home to her.

What is there to hide that an independent audit would show??

There is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY that crime is 'down' in Tampa, FL. Nope. None. I've never seen anything like I'm seeing now. More murders, more deaths by vehicle, more rapes, shootings, robberies ... all you have to do is read the paper(s). Tampa hasn't got too many 'numbers' to be proud of. One of the highest traffic fatality rates in the nation.

When the Tampa Tribune published that crime was down and accompanied it with that big ol pie chart I was be-dazzled and filled with mirth. I kept expecting to see people laughing at the front page all day. Only thing is, the Trib (except for a few columnists and reporters) seems to be taken seriously by so few that I couldn't find anyone reading it so waited and waited for someone to dispute that claim in an editorial. (which I would have missed because I only read the paper occasionally in self-defense or utter boredom)
Serious Lewis has now presented an honest and valid point/question. The crime statistics for Tampa have been 'somehow' 'skewed' or 'softened' or 'mis-reported' in order for an appearance of less crime to be touted.

The federal govt. is also guilty of this same harmful antic. When they want to skew the results for one area they merely change reporting requirements so it no longer fits in that category or they make it a different category. For instance, if they want the murder rate to appear lower they can remove certain murder 'types' from the category they report.

One nice thing about KGB (King George Bush): he has made most people question every govmint official that talks. Ya gotta love it. Thanks, George.

So, Mr. Lewis brought up a very valid point and it is very easy to mislead the public who doesn't have the time or ability to do this type of research and relies on often dishonest or skewed data which is politically motivated. The Mayor owes it to the city to provide reliable, honest data and the given statistics are obviously incorrect.

When someone wants to win elections and favor they know that disappearing crime is a good one to tout. So they 'disappear' it. But when you can look around you and read the paper and KNOW the statistics are FULL OF IT, we can only be grateful that Serious Lewis stepped to the plate to say it out loud. Thanks, Mr. Lewis.

Who will answer? Not the mayor. Not the police chief.

WHO?

I have all the respect in the world for Pam Iorio; she's a smart lady. Others don't feel that way and many do not want to see her serving as mayor again. All that aside, I know she's gotta be smart enough to know (but what IS up with that Scientology Connect?? that independent (truly independent) audits go far towards restoring public faith or .... You can surround yourself with all the nodding heads you want but people just don't fall for it anymore. Have an audit already. Find the mistake or the coverup. It's obvious to everyone that crime is certainly NOT down. Also, everywhere I click Pam's name now the Scientology comes up; this is an issue she's going to face, I would predict.

Isn't it weird that Hogue claims crime dropped 29% while at the same time homelessness rose 26%?? I thought homelessness led to criminal activity. This would mean that one set of statistics has to be wrong. I'll just call what I see: Lots of homeless (more than ever), lots and lots of riff raff and crime being imported here and not by the immigrants. So if there are more homeless than ever not to mention more homeless than ever being MURDERED; how is it that the crime rate has dropped?? (Please see next paragraphs for a new theory I have recently put forth)

Things that make ya go hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Too Early in the Day:
(I haven't put twenty five minutes of research into this -- I just want to know why we can't have an audit already?)
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Later in the day I have made some time to do a cursory examination of the statistics reported by the City of Tampa Police Dept. It does NOT make me happy to say this but I have reached a theory. Don't report crime. They won't let you. It's possible that it's not being reported, it's not being written down, or like happened to someone I know, the officer tells you there is no crime only to lead to hours and hours of one supervisor after another affirming this til they actually haul the manual out. (honestly someone kicked in a door and because my friend's address was on the kickee's license there was no crime. I chimed in with, 'well, that's good, I'll go down and change my address to yours tomorrow and kick your door in and will that be a crime?' and out came the first sergeant to finally write a report, matter of public record)
I followed a line of reasoning which jumped right out at me. (other than personal experience and observations)
One of the crimes that increased was rape (forcible sexual assault if you will.) They managed to get that pesky murder rate down (sorta and with all the murders I read about I find that questionable) and some robberies off into another category, and perhaps even slotted some deaths as accidental. They couldn't get the rapes to drop so they came up with a new program for rape victims in order to cut down on the reporting of that crime. And here we all recall: Raped Twice. That will certainly cut down on the # of rapes that will be reported. That # will drop like a rock for this year, I bet.

See how that works?

I excel in statistics but not in the dreary sawdust of verb-aging it all. I also learned from personal experiences that many deaths get slotted to another category. A murder can easily be called a suicide or vice versa but if the family is sensitive to this category a kindly officer or higher-up can switch the category to 'accidental death' or to 'murder'. Believe it or not, some people would rather their family member be murdered than thought of as a suicide. Of course every family and some cops would prefer it all be accidental and there you have it. I'll let you do your own research on that one; took me years to drink it all in. And reading lots and lots and lots of death certificates.

It's like the four out of five dentists surveyed .... statistics can say anything you wants them to say ... let's have the truth.

tampabay.com
Mayoral candidate challenges crime drop
TIMES WIRES
Published February 3, 2007

TAMPA

For the past three years, Tampa police have trumpeted the city's plummeting crime rate.

Since Steve Hogue took over as police chief in 2003, the department has reported a 29 percent crime reduction, Tampa Police Department spokeswoman Laura McElroy said.

Now those numbers are being contested by one of Mayor Pam Iorio's opponents in the March 6 city elections.

"Crime stats are reported on the honor code, and TPD is being dishonorable," said Marion "Serious" Lewis, a former police captain and 26-year veteran of the department.

In front of the department's downtown headquarters Friday, Lewis alleged Hogue and Iorio had created a "climate for abuse" by holding officers accountable for crimes in their zones.

The accountability motivates officers to take a more active role in reducing crime, McElroy countered.

Iorio said she is convinced crime has dropped since Hogue took over.

Lewis called for an independent audit of the department's statistics.

Iorio rejected this idea, saying the city had done nothing wrong, and their records are open for inspection.