Accountability and Responsibility in Government

CITISTAT

En Español

What is CitiStat? CitiStat is an accountability tool based on the ComStat program pioneered in the New York City Police Department by Jack Maple. CompStat, utilizing computer pin mapping and weekly accountability sessions, helped the NYPD dramatically reduce crime and is employed today by several police departments around the world. Martin O’Malley is convinced that this same process can be used, not only for crime, but for every Baltimore City agency from Public Works to Health. In short, CitiStat is how O’Malley runs Baltimore. Strategies are developed and employed, managers held accountable, and results measured—not yearly, quarterly, or monthly, but week to week.

The Process

Agency or bureau heads come to a CitiStat meeting every other week with O’Malley, deputy mayors, and key cabinet members. Days before each meeting, the bureau or agency is required to submit data to the CitiStat team. The data covers a wide variety of information for a two-week period. The Solid Waste Bureau, for example, submits data on everything from dirty alley and missed trash pick-up complaints to the number of sick days taken in a particular division and the overtime rate. After data are received, the CitiStat team analyzes the numbers and prepares the presentation for the meeting. Accurate and timely information is critical to the success of the CitiStat process. CitiStat’s operations team is responsible for ensuring the data is true by taking a critical look at the information, conducting field investigations, and pulling cases at random. The operations team also analyzes all data received, compares it to the report for the previous period and formulates questions designed to explain the data and highlight problem areas. The technical team is responsible for preparing briefing books for the Mayor and deputy mayors and for geocoding any address data in order to plot it on the computer pin map.

The Tenets

Four key tenets constitute the foundation of Citistat:


  • Accurate and Timely Intelligence
  • Effective Tactics and Strategies
  • Rapid Deployment of Resources
  • Relentless Follow-Up and Assessment

CitiStat from Coast to Coast, and Beyond

When one thinks of attracting visitors to Baltimore, it’s normally our Inner Harbor, boasting such attractions as the National Aquarium, our historical landmarks like Fort McHenry, and the country’s crown jewel of baseball stadiums-Oriole Park at Camden Yards that garner all the attention. But over the past year, Baltimore has gained a new attraction. Week in and week out, officials from every level of government from across the country and even as far as Europe-be it from townships, cities, states, and even federal agencies-are sending delegations to Baltimore to learn more about our CitiStat program.

Their interest is not surprising. Whether you work in the public, private, or non-profit sectors, being able to regularly measure and evaluate performance is absolutely critical to successfully managing any endeavor. Whether you’re responsible for managing a small unit of less than five people or a large City with 16,000 employees and over 600,000 residents, a program like CitiStat can provide you the critical information you need for better decision-making, can be driving the force behind your most important management and service initiatives, and provides the structured mechanism to ensure that you stay focused on your top priorities. Just recently, more than 400 government officials from across the country joined me at Governing magazine’s annual conference to learn more about CitiStat.