[tbrownaw]

I think that a lot of people, such as yourself, are being very dishonest when analyzing the police data because they're analyzing it against total population numbers while ignoring the correlations to crime demographics. Such as the Guardian numbers you cited.

I think applying statistics to societal issues is a right pain in the ass to get right, and even more of a pain to explain concisely without accidentally becoming misleading.

It's not dishonest to get something wrong, when that something is unfeasible or perhaps even impossible to get right.

[SomeStupidPoint]

You're correct that it's not dishonest to get something wrong, and I regret targeting my comment as directly as I did.

However, I think places like the Guardian are being dishonest: they're telling stories with those numbers that the numbers don't really justify, and presenting those figures as if they're meaningful and carry some sort of utility, rather than just being random mishmash numbers that were easy to cook up.