Calling 911 is more effective than calling a police precinct, Assemblymember Jim Brennan says. Calls to 911 are always logged in; a report is made of the crime. The report is sent to the precinct that the crime was committed in. On the other hand, if you call a precinct directly, your call isn't always logged in; a report isn't always made. Nobody in the NYPD will know the crime was committed.
The police have to give a case number to everyone who reports a crime. No matter who you report it to, they must give you a case number. If you aren't given a case number, you'll know that the crime committed against you is not
being
reported. There will be no written record of the crime. It'll be as if
the crime didn't happen. No attempt will be made to find the criminal.
Remember, you do not have to go to a precinct to file a report. If the police tell you you have to go to the precinct to do it, they're wrong. They may be trying to discourage you from filing a report.
Newspaper articles say police don't take reports and give case numbers for two reasons: (1) pressure from
precinct commanders to keep crime statistics low and (2) a desire to avoid
paperwork.
They may also try to minimize the seriousness of a crime so they can downgrade it from a felony to a misdemeanor. Don't let that happen.
Police Tactic: Keeping Crime Reports Off the Books
They may also try to minimize the seriousness of a crime so they can downgrade it from a felony to a misdemeanor. Don't let that happen.
Police Tactic: Keeping Crime Reports Off the Books
“For police officers,” he added, “it’s gotten to the point of what’s the most diplomatic way to discourage a crime report from being taken.”The NYPD Tapes Confirmed
The investigation found that crime complaints were changed to reflect misdemeanor rather than felony crimes, which prevented those incidents from being counted in the all-important crime statistics.Crime Report Manipulation Is Common Among New York Police, Study Finds
pressure on officers to artificially reduce crime rates, while simultaneously increasing summonses and the number of people stopped and often frisked on the street, has intensified in the last decade