CompStat on Reply All

Great two part podcast series by Reply All about CompStat, a information system used by NYPD to track police work and police officers. How it came about in 1990’s and it correlates with a dramatic reduction of crime. However, it’s also responsible for (a portion of) nonsensical arrests and fines two decades later — police officers are trying to meet artificial quotas no matter what because the system is governed by politics which don’t allow for crime rates going up.

Not exactly a manifestation of Goodhart’s law.

Explains capt. Holt’s mood as CompStat data deadline approaches in s01e04 of Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

Part I and part II