Internal accountability: Compstat meetings provide top management with an opportunity to conduct…

Internal accountability: Compstat meetings provide top
management with an opportunity to conduct intensive monthly performance
evaluations of every precinct commander, asking them about any and all issues
related to their commands, including crime, traffic accidents, and spending. 89
Commanders are given notification of the Compstat meeting 36 hours in advance,
requiring them to be intimately familiar with their areas. 90 The innovation
frequently relied upon comparisons over time or with other precincts. For
example, a commander might be questioned as to why burglaries were increasing

Internal accountability: Compstat meetings provide top
management with an opportunity to conduct intensive monthly performance
evaluations of every precinct commander, asking them about any and all issues
related to their commands, including crime, traffic accidents, and spending. 89
Commanders are given notification of the Compstat meeting 36 hours in advance,
requiring them to be intimately familiar with their areas. 90 The innovation
frequently relied upon comparisons over time or with other precincts. For
example, a commander might be questioned as to why burglaries were increasing
month after month. As noted earlier, Bratton defined performance as a key
determinant in promotion and reassignment decisions. In theory, this
accountability should trickle down throughout the entire organization from
upper-level managers to front-line supervisors to officers on the street. 91 In
practice, it is more common for organizations to punish (e.g., replace)
poor-performing commanders than it is to reward (e.g., promote) strong
performers. 92 In some departments, this accountability may be lacking entirely,
at least according to patrol officers. In describing a district commander in
one unnamed department, one patrol officer cited the facade of accountability: