by TChris

If local crime rates seem too high, there's an easy way to solve the problem: Stop reporting the crimes.

Police in Atlanta recently revealed that reports of 22,000 crimes in that city were missing. But the problem isn't confined to Atlanta.

In New York, a police captain was accused of routinely downgrading crime reports so he'd look good in the eyes of his superiors. Philadelphia's Sex Crimes Unit dismissed as non-crimes several thousand reports of rape in 1999. And in Baltimore, an information technology worker quit in December over claims the city's crime reporting was wildly inaccurate.

The extent of the problem is unclear. Only a few cities, including Atlanta, Boston, and New Orleans, have ordered an independent audit of crime reporting. But the practice is sufficiently widespread to cast doubt on the reliability of the FBI's crime statistics, which depend upon the accuracy of reports made by local law enforcement agencies.

Reform may begin with police officers who are tired of watching their superiors take credit for crime reduction that hasn't actually happened.

In New York, 70 sergeants rallied in front of a Queens station house with a 15-foot inflatable rat this month as they demanded the ouster of Capt. Sheldon Howard, who they say reduces the severity of crimes so his statistics look better than they are.