Florida: We don't need no stinkin' counting...

Apparently the number of serious crimes reported in the city of Weston. Where is Florida you might ask? Why its in Florida (you remember Florida from the last President election -- they did a bang up job counting) nearly doubled in the first six months of this year. In the Pompano Beach area alone reported crime was up by more than half. Oh that can't be good for the residents. However, it was up by nearly that much in North Lauderdale. Huh? What's going on here?

The new figures don't point to a major crime wave in Broward County -- hey that county sounds familiar, where have I heard about that place? -- says the paper of record in the state of the alligator, the Miami Herald.

The Herald reports that the county has dramatically changed the way it handles crime reporting, in response to charges that it had been deliberately under-reporting crimes. Shocking! I can't believe it. Someone in Florida undercounted something important. Alert the news media. Hell, someone should at least call Al Gore or something.

Here is the kicker though, sportsfans: While reported crimes were up, the percentage of cases cleared -- that means they solved them -- plummeted. For instance, the Broward sheriff's office claimed to have cleared 30 percent of serious crimes in Weston for the first six months of this year, down from 62 percent for the same period last year. Oh man, this can't be good, right? I wonder if saying they solved more crimes than they did helped anybody win any elections, you know for Sheriff or something important like that.

I know that I feel a lot better about this year's election. How hard is it to count these things when they are important? I wonder what's in the water in Florida?