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American Morning
Interview with John Timoney
Aired June 24, 2002 - 07:42 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: From Maine to California, there is new concern this morning about crime in America. The FBI reports a 2 percent increase in major crimes, and that is the first time in a decade those numbers have gone up.
Let's look at some of those numbers. Murders were up 3.1 percent last year. Suburban crime jumped 2.2 percent. Car theft up 6 percent. So what is behind this reversal of a trend in falling crime rates?
John Timoney, former Philadelphia police commissioner, now CEO of Bo Dietl Private Security Firm, joins us now -- Chief, good morning.
JOHN TIMONEY, CEO, BO DIETL & ASSOCIATES: Good morning.
KAGAN: When I saw these numbers for the first time last night, I thought, well, this is simple. You just add in all of the 9/11 numbers, and that's going to make those numbers go up. But this does not include 9/11.
TIMONEY: Oh, exactly. Yes. That was an aberrant event. So the numbers are a cause for concern only because I guess there is an expectation after nine years or eight years, it was going to...
KAGAN: It was going down.
TIMONEY: ... eventually bottom out. But I think if you take a closer look at the numbers, and it's interesting how in different parts of the nation...
KAGAN: Well, let's look at some of those numbers.
TIMONEY: Yes.
KAGAN: First of all, let's look at the kind of crime that has gone up, if we can put those numbers back up. Do we have -- there we go: total crime, 2 percent; murder, 3.1; suburban crimes, 2.2; car theft, 6 percent.
TIMONEY: Right.
KAGAN: Is that a reflection of a struggling economy and people not having as much opportunity? TIMONEY: I mean, some, particularly with the property crimes, some could, but the murder is often -- the increase in murder around drug activity. But if you look, for example, in the northeast, crime still went down last year, driven by the big cities of New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore, where significant crime declines still continue.
KAGAN: Well, let's look at your town, Philadelphia.
TIMONEY: Yes.
KAGAN: What do you think is happening there as compared to the rest of the country?
TIMONEY: Well, crime last year was down...
KAGAN: That's good news, especially when you look at what is happening across the country.
TIMONEY: Exactly. In New York it went down, in Baltimore went down. Now, the interesting part is all three of those cities are run by either NYPD or ex-NYPD chiefs using a very aggressive COMSTAT process. Some other parts of the nation have kind of either didn't start it or have abandoned the COMSTAT process, where you have these weekly meetings, focusing on crimes, bringing commanders in. And so it's interesting that the only part of the nation that saw a crime decline is the northeast.
KAGAN: And what would you attribute that to?
TIMONEY: Well, I think part of it is the policing. Again, the COMSTAT process. But there are still dark clouds over the horizon.
KAGAN: Right.
TIMONEY: If you look in New York City, for example, where just a year-and-a-half ago, there were 40,000 police officers. It's down under 37,000 and dropping. They are having a hard time in recruiting and also getting those numbers back up. There has been talk in Washington about cutting back on the COPS office...
KAGAN: This becomes a political issue debate.
TIMONEY: Exactly.
KAGAN: The Bush administration wants to cut back on a program that the Clinton administration had started.
TIMONEY: Clearly. Yes. And so, that's a huge issue. I know Joe Biden chimed in yesterday, and I think I agree with him. You know, the money, the fugitive money in the mid '90s was very helpful, particularly for the big cities, but really across America, helping police officers hire more police -- police departments hire more police officers, better training, and of course, additional resources in terms of equipment and computers. KAGAN: And let's talk about one other thing that is happening in Washington as they look at the reorganization, the possibility of that, of the FBI, of the CIA.
TIMONEY: Yes.
KAGAN: As they reorganize this, of course, they are going to be focusing on terrorism.
TIMONEY: Exactly.
KAGAN: Is that going to take away from everyday crime that might affect my neighborhood?
TIMONEY: In a way it will. For example, the FBI has made it clear, Bob Mueller, that they are going to get out of the business of the bank robberies, of the drug and gun crime. That's going to fall to local law enforcement. And some, or example, in Philadelphia and New York, the police are going to have to pick up that extra load, while at the same time, also dealing with terrorism. So there has been a huge strain on local law enforcement, and I don't think to date there hasn't been an appreciation of that in Washington.
So for example, if you look at big city police departments especially where terrorists are likely to hit, you could argue that those police departments are part of the homeland defense. Some money should come out of the Defense Department's budget to help defray the costs of local police departments.
KAGAN: That political debate will go on. Just real quickly...
TIMONEY: Yes.
KAGAN: ... do you think this is a one-year fluke, or the trend is turning around?
TIMONEY: No, I think if you examined it almost city by city, it's not a one-year fluke. Unless something dramatic happens, you're going to see it start to rise.
KAGAN: We will watch those numbers. Chief John Timoney, thank you for joining us.
TIMONEY: Thank you, Daryn.
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