No, the real (not topsy-turvy) logic behind GPs statement is "garbage in, garbage out", or "you can't trust a statistics unless you know how reliable the inputs are".
You basically can’t trust statistics without statistical literacy, the source data and the time to interpret it.
Lies, damn lies and statistics is still applicable and relevant today, if conveniently forgotten.
Just to bring something else to this discussion, Chesa didn’t run on statistics. He ran on a soft-on-crime message and delivered. Since this is an elected office, he didn’t answer to the Mayor, so he didn’t benefit from the Mayor’s cover but also wasn’t in the same chain of command as SFPD, so when the voters turned, they turned directly on him and this being an elected office, he just didn’t have a good story to tell or the support he needed from the communities he needed it from. The real statistics don’t even matter at that point because statistics don’t run for office or win elections.
Lies, damn lies and statistics is still applicable and relevant today, if conveniently forgotten.
Just to bring something else to this discussion, Chesa didn’t run on statistics. He ran on a soft-on-crime message and delivered. Since this is an elected office, he didn’t answer to the Mayor, so he didn’t benefit from the Mayor’s cover but also wasn’t in the same chain of command as SFPD, so when the voters turned, they turned directly on him and this being an elected office, he just didn’t have a good story to tell or the support he needed from the communities he needed it from. The real statistics don’t even matter at that point because statistics don’t run for office or win elections.