| RIPTIDE | ▼ TALLAHASSEE STATS FAIL T FLORIDA LAW ENFORCEMENT FAILS TO PARTICIPATE IN FBI’S ANNUAL CRIME REPORT. BY NAOMI FEINSTEIN he FBI has released its highly an- ticipated annual Crime in the Nation report to inform the pub- lic and policymakers about the current state of crime in the United States. But because of inadequate law enforcement participation, this year’s data paints an incomplete picture of crime trends, especially in the Sunshine State. The lack of hard crime stats from Florida and other states stems from their slow adap- tation to changes in the feds’ data collection system. On January 1, 2021, the FBI transi- tioned from using its Summary Reporting System to the National Incident-Based Re- porting System, which collects information from specific crime incidents rather than from monthly aggregate totals. “It’s alarming because better data results in better policies,” civil rights and criminal law attorney Melba Pearson tells New Times, referencing Florida’s missing stats. “If we don’t have good data, we’re not going to make good policies because we’re not fully in- formed as to the scope, breadth, and depth of whatever problem it is we’re looking at.” The FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Pro- gram has estimated crime statistics across the country since the 1960s thanks to data sub- missions from local law enforcement agen- cies. While the bureau estimates violent crime decreased by 1 percent and homicides rose more than 4 percent in 2021, the data is decidedly inconclusive, as only 11,794 of GET MORE NEWS & COMMENTARY AT MIAMINEWTIMES.COM/NEWS ▼ MIAMI-DADE PERSUASIVE SPECIES Florida, the furry flying mammals have been driven nearly to extinction by rampant urban de- velopment and habitat loss from increasingly frequent and powerful storms. Though the species’ outlook at times has S been bleak, environmental advocates have rea- son to celebrate after a key victory for the criti- cally endangered bats last week. A group of plaintiffs from a range of conser- vation groups reached a legal settlement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) on Oc- tober 7, requiring the federal agency to propose critical habitat boundaries for the bonneted bat by next month. “The critical habitat will protect large swaths FEDS AGREE TO PROPOSE CRITICAL HABITAT FOR FLORIDA BONNETED BATS. BY JOSHUA CEBALLOS cientists estimate that fewer than 3,000 Florida bonneted bats live in the wild to- day. Once much more abundant in South 18,806 law enforcement agencies across the nation participated in reporting. This is in ad- dition to the fact that crime is already histori- cally underreported. Last year, in Florida, two of 757 police de- partments provided crime data to the FBI that could be used in the report — the Semi- nole and Miccosukee Tribal police depart- ments. The FBI’s own Crime Data Explorer website says these two agencies cover less than one percent of the state’s population. “The graph for Florida is useless because it’s so woefully incomplete,” says Pearson, who serves as director of prosecution projects at the Jack D. Gordon Institute for Public Policy at Florida International University. “It basically shows that crime is going down in Florida, as compared to the United States as a whole, but that doesn’t reflect Miami-Dade County and the largest jurisdictions in the state.” Pearson questions why the majority of the state’s police agencies did not submit federally compliant data, which she says they should be collecting internally. Claiming agencies owe the public an explanation for why they did not participate, Pearson urges local commissioners and residents to demand answers from their sheriffs, as “policing is a life-or-death field.” The Florida Department of Law Enforce- ment says that the time it takes to transition to the new, more detailed incident-based report- ing system will vary by local agency and “is dependent upon many factors,” including IT support and the software each agency uses. “[The] transition time will vary and there may be time periods when data is not avail- able for some agencies. This may result in in- complete or partial reporting for certain publication periods,” the department said in March 2022. The National Incident-Based Reporting System is more detailed in that it captures specific information about crime incidents, including date, time, and the relationship of of Miami’s imperiled pine rocklands. The bon- neted bat needs these habitats protected right now to avoid the destruction of their homes,” says Ragan Whitlock, staff attorney for the Cen- ter for Biological Diversity, one of the plaintiffs in the suit. Critical habitat designations are meant to help protect natural areas essential to the con- servation of endangered species. Federal agen- cies are prohibited from destroying or “adversely modifying” land within a critical habitat and must consult with FWS before signing off on any project that might do so. Environmental groups have been eager to see habitat protections for the bats in the face of the Miami Wilds project — a proposed water park development near ZooMiami in a spot sci- entists say the bats search for food. The center and other nonprofits sued FWS because of the agency’s alleged failure to finalize a critical habitat for the bat within the timeframe required by the federal Endangered Species Act. Though the agency issued a proposal for a critical bat habitat in 2020, environmentalists Photo by U.S. Marshals Service the victim and offender. The system’s crime categories are also more expansive than they were under the old format. Since 2015, the federal government has awarded the Florida Department of Law En- forcement at least $17.6 million dollars to “de- velop a comprehensive plan to expand their current capacity” to report data to the Na- tional Incident-Based Reporting System (NI- BRS), or to “plan how the state will create a state NIBRS program.” The Florida Department of Law Enforce- ment’s Office of Criminal Justice Grants is re- sponsible for giving the federal money to eligible law enforcement agencies around the state to assist in implementing the new data collection methods. The state legislature’s 2021-2022 fiscal year budget allocated $11.5 million to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for the state-level reporting system. The depart- ment received $2.6 million a year before “to continue the transition” to the system and $10.2 million for the 2019-2020 fiscal year. “What are the departments doing with “THE CRITICAL HABITAT WILL PROTECT LARGE SWATHS OF MIAMI’S IMPERILED PINE ROCKLANDS.” argued it was insufficient, and FWS went back to the drawing board. The plaintiffs alleged that under the Endangered Species Act, FWS should have issued a final habitat map by June of 2021 but did not do so, giving the nonprofits cause to sue in Miami federal court this past July. Now, under the October 7 set- tlement, the agency must sub- mit a habitat proposal by November 15, with the possibility of an extension to March 2023 if a fed- eral oversight division requires further review. Once that proposal is published and open for public commentary, FWS will have one year from the publication date to finalize the critical habitat designation. The plaintiffs can move for the court to enforce the settlement if the habitat is not fi- nalized by then. Whitlock says the plaintiffs are appreciative The lack of crime stats from Florida stems from the state’s slow adaptation to changes in the feds’ data collection system. their budgets?” Pearson asks. “Are they able to get the analysts they need to upload the in- formation or is it a systems problem? The first push should be to make sure that every department has the ability to track these [sta- tistics] because you can’t tell me that the po- lice departments across Florida don’t know what crime looks like in their communities or have no data with regards to that.” Pearson calls the lack of participation among Florida’s law enforcement agencies “problematic,” given the lack of transparency and crime data playing a pivotal factor in midterm elections. Elected officials cannot properly address crime trends in the commu- nity if the data is not readily available. “If you can’t send it to the federal govern- ment, how are you communicating it to the people that are most impacted?” Pearson says. “It’s just important for the communities to understand where their tax dollars are going.” that the agency agreed to issue a proposal quickly. He hopes the habitat designation pro- cess goes off without a hitch because the bats need it. Bat researcher Melquisedec Gamba-Rios of the nonprofit group Bat Conservation Interna- tional tells New Times that the ZooMiami area, where developers are getting ready to build the waterpark, is one of the most valuable areas for the endangered bonneted bat. Out of 155 bon- neted bats recorded sleeping in man-made roosts throughout Miami-Dade County, about 100 of them were in the ZooMiami property, he says. Gamba-Rios tells New Times it’s difficult to know exactly how many bonneted bats are in the wild, but scientists estimate there are be- tween 1,000 and 3,000 left. “There’s no time to spare, and the effects of losing the Florida bonneted bat cannot be quan- tified,” Whitlock tells New Times. “The bat needs as many protections as it can get. It needs them immediately.” [email protected] 33 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com | CONTENTS | LETTERS | NEWS | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | CAFE | MUSIC | miaminewtimes.com | CONTENTS | LETTERS | RIPTIDE | METRO | NIGHT+DAY | STAGE | ART | FILM | CAFE | MUSIC | MIAMI NEW TIMES NEW TIMES MONTH XX–MONTH XX, 2008 OCTOBER 20-26, 2022
