Team Work

“Christina and Brian:

We’d like you to work together over the next few weeks on a story examining the Dallas Police Department’s clearance rates for seven crimes: murder, rape, aggravated assault, residential burglary, business robbery, theft and auto theft. This story will help explain the daunting task that police have in solving (or clearing) certain offenses and how some crimes get more attention and resources devoted to them simply out of a realistic expectation of which ones can be solved.

We should begin with a short intro on clearance rates in general (which tend to be higher and which lower, how DPD stacks up against national clearance rates, and the pressure police are under to keep them under control, particularly for violent crimes).

The rest of the story would be broken into vignettes — you’ll divvy these up — on individual crimes from this year. Ideally we’d use solved cases to illustrate offenses with high clearance rates and unsolved crimes for those with low rates. Our Dallas police reporters may be able to help point out good candidates for some of these vignettes. They can also tell you which police official to talk to about certain crimes.

Each month, police release a “green sheet” that lists how many murders, robberies, burglaries, etc., were committed and the clearance rates for each. The June numbers should be out soon, and we’ll get you a copy as soon as they land.

I know you’ve both got other irons in the fire, so let’s sit down and talk about this after Selwyn returns later this week. Thanks.”

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