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Message: <blockquote data-quote="enviro5609" data-source="post: 920851" data-attributes="member: 29513">This is where you get into the real legal minutiae, and the potential for manipulation (deliberate or not) of the stats.The main difference between a robbery and a grand larceny is the use of force or the threat of the use of force. But what constitutes force? If someone gets their iPhone snatched out of their pocket while waiting for a cab, is that a Robbery? Grandy Larceny? How much was the phone worth? Maybe its just Petit Larceny? Did the person notice the phone being snatched? Did they see or notice the thief? Was the person touched? Were words exchanged?While that reads like a bar exam question (and there is a legally "right" answer) the "right" answer doesn't matter. What the crime is written up as is entirely up to NYPD and the officer taking the report-- regardless of what the actual charge accepted by the District Attorney is (if any). There are no lawyers involved in the classification by NYPD.None of that is to accuse anyone of anything deliberate or improper. Its just important to note the inherent potential for human error or other unknown variables involved when trying to draw direct comparisons to crime stats year over year. And that's before we even get into reporting rates or other interesting, "freakanomics-esque" variables that affect trying to calculate the "true" crime rate vs. the reported crime rate.</blockquote>

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