In a press conference yesterday, Chief Gascón reported that the city's crime rate for January to September dropped 9 percent compared to last year and 13 percent compared to a particularly stabby 2008. According to the Examiner the drop in violent crime follows a national trend in big cities, but the police chief gave a lot of credit to his department's high-tech CompStat system that analyzes criminal trends and sees into the future using "computers and problem-solving meetings" to determine where to send officers before the crime happens. It does not, however, point out when the Coit Tower Clobberer will strike next.

In related statistics: 2009, you'll remember, had the lowest number of homicides in the city since 1959 and as the Ex reports 2010 seems to be on track to be just as low, so don't go shooting anybody before December, OK? (Or ever, really.)
[Examiner]