Ford says Corker data on crime inaccurate
2006-09-28
Source: Chattanooga Times Free Press
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rss feedThe U.S. Senate campaign of Democratic U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr. is challenging claims by Republican opponent Bob Corker that violent crime fell by 50 percent when he was mayor of Chattanooga.
The Corker campaign is using data provided by the Chattanooga Police Department and announced by the Corker administration in January 2005. Those f igures show that violent crime - murder, rape, aggravated assault and robbery - dropped 50.2 percent from 2001 to 2004. But that data contrasts with figures available from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the FBI, both of which show violent crime reductions of just less than 30 percent between those years.
Tom Lee, senior adviser for policy and communication for the Ford campaign, noted that a new Corker television advertisement uses the same 2004 preliminary numbers touted by Mr. Corker in January 2005. "It's apparent to us the ad is based on incomplete and inaccurate information," Mr. Lee said.
Chattanooga Police Chief Steve Parks said those 2004 numbers are "close to being the most accurate" figure for violent crime and are more reliable than data the police department provided to the TBI.
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